• Can your sweater make the world’s deserts grow? JAN 19, 2011

    • Actually, it can. Some sweaters are directly linked to our growing deserts. In fact, in just five years they made the world’s deserts grow by an area larger than the Netherlands.

      But how?

      Cashmere!
      The production of cashmere wool has increased massively to provide western consumers with warm sweaters. Much of it comes from China and Mongolia.

      Millions of goats are farmed on land suitable for only a fraction of them, and they literally eat until the land is transformed into desert. As a consequence, local ecosystems are on the edge of collapse.

      And that’s not all
      The growing deserts cause huge dust storms that reach as far as the US and Korea. Ultra-tiny particles in the dust cause respiratory damage, heart disease and cancer.

      Cashmere is an example of how our consumption has global, and sometimes unexpected, consequences. It is also a textbook study in the Tragedy of the Commons, where the resource costs are not fully calculated in the production costs. In other words: when we buy a sweater, other people are also paying for it!

      The good news
      Ethical cashmere firms do exist and we are working on making it easier to find them! In the link below is a list of 5 ethical cashmere firms you can start with.

      Links