(Organic) cotton-pickin' story

from Sunday Mail 7.6.09

Summer Rayne Oakes, author of eco-shopping guide Style Naturally was in Brisbane recently for Greenfest. (Missed it, I was out of town, but if anyone went, let me know!) The Cornell Uni graduate modelled these looks from eco-friendly companies for our local newspaper.

Nice to see it's no longer hippy, brown-sack type clothing, in case you were worried!

Lots of the pictured clothing ranges use organic cotton, and here's one of the reasons why.

This story's from Matilda Lee's book Eco-Chic...

"At just 8 years old, Modachirou Inoussa already helped his parents in the cotton fields, and 29 July 2000 started as a day like many others. Modachirou had worked hard and ran back to the house feeling thirsty. Finding no drink, he set off to search for his parents. On his way, Modachirou found an empty container, and scooped up some water to drink from a ditch. That evening he did not return home. A village search found his body next to the empty Callisulfan bottle innocently used to quench his thirst."

Just another death caused by pesticides used on cotton, the world's largest non-food crop. Why do we never hear about them in Australia? Practically all of the estimated 3 to 5 million poisonings each year happen to small farmers in the developing world. Most don't use protective gear, and the costly pesticides are often the most expensive things they own.  Lethal chemicals are kept inside homes to prevent theft. And using empty pesticide containers for water or food is common...

Hmmm... what do you say after that... except a big Yay! for green companies like Sosume (pictured) who use pesticide-free, organically grown cotton fabrics.