The result? An unsustainable clothing industry that does more than give you FOMO — it's wreaking havoc on the planet and the people who produce it.
What Is Fast Fashion?
"Fast fashion" refers to mass-produced clothing that's made quickly, cheaply, and in trending styles. The goal of fast fashion marketers is to get runway styles into shoppers' hands as quickly as possible, no matter the quality or external costs.
These trendy pieces tend to be of poor quality, and most won't last more than a few wash cycles. But that's no hardship for the buyer because they didn't invest much to begin with.
Fast fashion has upended the clothing industry. It's turned updating your wardrobe from a semi-annual investment to the equivalent of ordering takeout. The trend towards disposable clothing is taking over the world, but it didn't happen all at once.
How Fast Fashion Got Started
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, individuals were primarily responsible for sourcing materials to make their clothes. Starting in the 18th century, inventions like the power loom and the sewing machine took clothes making out of the house and into the garment factory, which scaled up production in unprecedented ways.
Even so, clothing costs stayed relatively high for the following centuries. Dresses in the 1950s cost about $70 to $100 in today's money. By the 1960s, the Average American bought just two dozen pieces of clothing each year — all made in the United States — and spent more than 10% of their income to do so.
The 1970s harkened a massive change in clothing manufacturing as factories started leaving the U.S. in favor of cheaper labor in Asia and Latin America. The result was cheaply made, mass-produced clothing, and shoppers scaled up their buying habits accordingly. Americans spend less than 4% of their budget on clothes each year but bring home about new 70 pieces, one of which might be made domestically.
Cheaper production is only part of the story of fast fashion. Innovations in supply chain management made it possible to get trending styles in shoppers' hands faster, which sped up the entire fashion cycle. While designer labels once released four collections a year, many have now increased the turnover rate to 20+ unique collections in the same timeframe.
The Consequences of Fast Fashion
Why is fast fashion bad? It turns out that lower prices and the quicker turnover of trends has significant impacts on the planet.
Increases Carbon Emissions
Considering their short lifespan, fast fashion clothes have an outsize carbon footprint.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation blames the fashion industry for 10 percent of global CO2 emissions — more than all international flights and shipping combined. That's primarily due to the long transportation journeys that textiles take from manufacturing to purchasing and their eventual disposal.
Polyester production alone emits more than 700 million tons of greenhouse gases each year, and some estimate the 2030 annual levels will be as high as 1.5 billion.
Overproduces Toxic Textiles
Fast fashion manufacturers cut corners whenever possible to keep costs low. Most pieces are made from ultra-cheap synthetic materials that won't break down in landfills.
Even natural fibers like cotton take a toll. Cotton is a thirsty crop that requires upwards of ten gallons per plant, pulling precious water resources away from food crops in many growing regions. Commercially grown cotton is a heavy feeder that requires large amounts of synthetic fertilizer but still depletes and degrades the soils it's planted in.
This disposable clothing doesn't even spend long in your closet. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Americans throw away about 70 lbs of textiles each year. This results in 17 million tons of annual waste, of which just 2.5 tons are recycled.
Pollutes Water Systems
Dyeing cheap clothes involves a toxic cocktail of chemicals. Denim production alone is the second-largest polluter of fresh water on the planet. An estimated 70% of Asia's lakes and rivers are contaminated by over 2.5 billion gallons of waste from the textile industry, resulting in a massive ecological and public health crisis.
Xintang, China, considered the denim capital of the world, has recorded evidence of toxic heavy metals associated with jeans production in more than three-quarters of water testing sites. The problem is so extreme that it's becoming almost impossible to convince people to live in the region.
Another problem is that polyester sheds microfibers after every wash cycle. These trace materials land in the water system. There, they increase the ocean's plastic concentration and disrupt marine food chains. Studies show these tiny fibers end up in animal stomachs and even make it onto our plates within seafood.
Black water probably dye enters the river from a factory, environmental pollution on the river banks surrounding some of the textile industry buildings of Savar Upazila on 30th September 2018 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Andrew Aitchison / In pictures / Getty Images
Harms Animal Welfare
Even animals aren't immune to the effects of fast fashion. The ever-expanding clothing industry requires massive amounts of land for factories and fiber production. This concentrates pollution and fragments habitat space for wild animals, which leads to declines in biodiversity.
Domestic animals don't fare much better, as cutting costs for leather, fur, and wool production often leads to animal abuse. In one noteworthy case, real fur from tortured dogs and cats was passed off as fake because it was cheaper to produce it illegally than to use synthetic alternatives.
Leads to Human Rights Abuses
Fast fashion might be cheap at the store, but someone else is paying the full price. The textile industry has been built around workers' rights abuse since the Industrial Revolution.
Garment workers today work extreme hours for poverty wages, often in dangerous conditions. In 2013, the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh collapsed due to shoddy construction, killing 1,100 people and injuring another 2,500. This was hardly an isolated incident, as hundreds of Bangladeshi workers have died in factory fires over the past decade.
Children aren't exempt from the challenges of producing cheap clothes. There are an estimated 168 million underage workers in the world today, many of them children pulled out of school to work in garment factories.
Why Do Consumers Turn a Blind Eye to Fast Fashion's Flaws?
Considering the costs associated with cheap clothes, why are $20 jeans still widely available?
Put bluntly — most shoppers just don't care enough to change their habits. As things stand today, fashion retailers rarely, if ever, lose out on significant numbers of customers due to poor environmental or labor practices.
Research shows that shoppers prioritize price over almost any other selling point, and that they are quick to forget when products are made unethically or unsustainably. Even in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, Americans still purchased millions of dollars worth of clothes from similar factories in Bangladesh that year.
Protesters demanding safe workplaces for garment workers mark the sixth anniversary of the of the Rana Plaza building collapse disaster in Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 24, 2019. Mamunur Rashid / NurPhoto via Getty Images
The fast fashion industry shows little sign of slowing down, and part of the blame lies with social media. Rather than waiting for print magazines to tell us what's trendy, we can hop on our favorite celebrity's Instagram to see their fashion-forward choices in real-time. Likewise, the rise of influencer culture and micro-marketing has created a subgroup of stars whose job it is to convince us to buy more.
The internet provides constant exposure to all the world's trends at once, which speeds up the fast fashion cycle and leaves us forever feeling one step behind what's stylish. One London-based survey from 2017 found that 41% of 18 to 25-year-olds felt pressure to wear different clothes every time they left the house.
In short, when every outfit is scrupulously documented for the socials, it becomes passé to wear the same clothes more than once.
What Companies Are Involved With Fast Fashion?
Both traditional and newly established clothing brands alike are responsible for fast fashion.
As the oldest fast fashion giant around today, mega-retailer H&M (short for Hennes and Mauritz) opened in Sweden in 1947 and only made it to the States in 2000. The company specializes in cheap runway knockoffs and a short supply chain. H&M doesn't own factories but instead relies on 800 independent suppliers — mostly in Asia — to produce its apparel.
Customers at an H&M store in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China on Oct. 5, 2020. Alex Tai / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Zara offers similar speedy merchandise. This Spanish-based retailer has made it its mission to bring a garment from the design stage to store shelves in just three weeks — no matter the cost for the people and places producing it.
The company also strives to overwhelm shoppers with choice by producing more than 10,000 unique pieces each year (the industry average is 2,000-4,000), hoping that customers will come home with more apparel than they anticipated after every shopping trip.
People wait in line to shop at Zara in Boston, Massachusetts on Aug. 14, 2021. Erin Clark / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Some fast fashion stores are feeling the pressure as online shopping further cheapens and speeds up the supply chain. Once a mall staple for teenage shoppers, Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
But compared to traditional retailers, internet-based brands have advantages in the world of fast fashion. They cut out the middleman of retail space, which eliminates display costs. This makes it cost-effective to manage a large, continually changing inventory that can be adapted as trends change.
And, because the stock from online retailers is constantly shifting, shoppers feel pressure to make impulse buys when they find pieces they like for fear the items will soon be unavailable.
Is your favorite apparel retailer suspect? Here are some of the common characteristics of fast fashion brands to avoid.
- Clothes are made outside the United States and Europe.
- The brand offers hundreds, even thousands of styles.
- There is a limited quantity of any specific style.
- The brand sells styles mere weeks after they are seen on celebrities or the runway.
- The clothing is made from low-quality material and wears out quickly.
How to Move Towards Sustainability With the Wardrobe
The news isn't all bad. There is hope today to move the world of fashion in a more ecologically sound direction. But to be effective, this change has to happen both on an industry level and a personal level.
As Industries
Change is slow, but shoppers are showing more interest in alternative ways to get clothes, including renting and buying secondhand. Some retail giants, including select Macy's locations, have started selling used clothing from ThredUp.
Other stores, such as H&M, are becoming more transparent about their supply chains and striving to make environmentally conscious improvements. These include retail-specific changes like powering its stores with renewable energy and expanding its clothing recycling programs.
Unfortunately, these improvements rarely address the far worse impacts of the clothing production process itself or the fashion world's disturbing habit of burning unsold clothes to dispose of them.
Other brands, like Zara, are building a name for themselves in the sustainability sphere through limited-release collections made from organic cotton and other eco-friendly materials. In many cases, these collections make up a tiny portion of the company's profits and effectively act as fast fashion greenwashing to distract attention from the problems with its primary clothing lines.
As Individuals
As long as there is demand for fast fashion apparel, brands will continue to supply it. For this reason, making real changes in the clothing world comes down to changing your buying habits.
One approach is to embrace the idea of slow fashion. When shopping, look for timeless, quality-made pieces that are versatile enough for a variety of outfits. The goal is to create a smaller, capsule wardrobe built around pieces you'll wear frequently.
Buying less also means it's easier to justify spending more per item. Research manufacturers for evidence of fair labor practices and environmentally sustainable manufacturing. Seek out natural materials when possible, and learn whether the company offers recycling or other sustainable end-of-life services for its garments.
Make each piece of apparel last longer with careful maintenance. Wash your clothes only when necessary, using gentle detergents that won't break them down. You can also learn basic sewing skills to repair rips, lost buttons, and even broken zippers. One way to get more use out of any item is to get a tailor to modify it to your measurements. After all, trends come and go, but well-fitting clothes will always be in style.
To make a more significant impact, skip buying new altogether in favor of used clothes. The environmental cost has already been paid for these items, and by wearing them, you'll keep the material out of landfills for a little longer. Traditional thrift stores can offer surprising bargains, or you can take the shopping online through resale sites like ThredUp, Poshmark, and even Facebook Marketplace or other local buy-sell groups.
If you can't resist the allure of the latest fashions, consider renting instead of buying. Companies like Nuuly and Rent the Runaway offer more sustainable ways to try on trending clothes without them permanently taking up space in your wardrobe. Just note that there are high environmental costs associated with continually cleaning and shipping these clothes from one renter to another.
One person's trash is another person's treasure. Attending a clothing swap or taking the step to host one is a smart (and fun) way to recycle clothing and get a new wardrobe fast. AleksandarNakic / E+ / Getty Images
Takeaway
The world of fast fashion has run unchecked for far too long, and the planet is facing the consequences. It's time to make changes to how you approach your own wardrobe in an effort to improve your personal impact.
So, buy less, buy smarter, and hold onto what you own for as long as possible. Making sustainable, slow fashion trendy is a proven way to take some of the sting out of the global clothing industry and fight back against fast fashion.
Lydia Noyes is a freelance writer specializing in health and wellness, food and farming, and environmental topics. When not working against a writing deadline, you can find Lydia outdoors where she attempts to bring order to her 33-acre hobby farm filled with fruit trees, heritage breed pigs, too many chickens to count, and an organic garden that somehow gets bigger every year.
- The Environmental and Human Cost of Making a Pair of Jeans ... ›
- Can Fast Fashion Be Sustainable? - EcoWatch ›
- Dye-Filled Bacteria Could Replace the Fashion Industry's Dirty ... ›
- How Fast Fashion Is Killing Rivers Worldwide - EcoWatch ›
- Want Sustainable Clothing? It's Time to Meet Regenerative Fiber ... ›
"This year during Climate Week NYC, we are joining forces to reimagine NYC as a city free of fossil fuels, a lush eco city fueled by 100% renewable energy," the group wrote in a press release sent to EcoWatch. "NYC has the opportunity to ramp up its efforts and design and implement the most ambitious climate action plan yet, setting an example for cities around the country and the world."
The BLOCK PARTY IN THE GARDEN will take place this coming Saturday, September 25 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Elizabeth Street Garden. It will feature musical guests including Patti Smith, Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes, local doowop group Acapella Soul, Pathway to Paris co-founder Jesse Paris Smith and DJ Jonathan Toubin.
The BLOCK PARTY IN THE GARDEN will take place this coming Saturday, September 25 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Elizabeth Street Garden. Noam Galai / Getty Images
The event is co-hosted by Helm Bike, a new electric bike company, which is offering free test rides. There will also be boxing lessons from Overthrow New York, yoga classes from Modo Yoga NYC, a raffle, workshops, refreshments, chances for local action and activities for children. In case of rain, the event will be rescheduled to Sunday.
The Elizabeth Street Garden is a rare urban greenspace in lower Manhattan that is currently under threat from development. Since 2012, its supporters have been fighting to protect it from city plans to convert it into affordable housing for senior citizens, Thrillist reported. A non-profit organized to protect the space sued the city in 2019, and a decision is still pending.
"We absolutely need truly affordable housing, but we also need community green space," the garden's standing Executive Director Joseph Reiver told Thrillist. "One should never come at the expense of the other. Not when alternatives exist."
Pathway to Paris further argued that protecting the space was critical given environmental conditions in the city and the planet.
"Losing green space that is vital to community building and connection, in a district with one of the lowest ratios of public open space in the city, would be a major step backwards in the pathway to reimagining NYC," the group wrote in its press release.
Pathway to Paris was founded in 2014 by musicians and activists Jesse Paris Smith and Rebecca Foon and has worked since then to unite musicians, artists, activists, experts and ordinary people through a series of events dedicated towards turning the Paris agreement into reality.
Climate Week NYC is a yearly event hosted by the Climate Group and the UN to promote climate action.
"It is the time and place where the world gathers to showcase leading climate action and discuss how to do more, fast," the group explained on its website.
This year, it is running from September 20 to 26.
Ultimately, it is a form of intensive agriculture, a type of agriculture designed to produce the highest possible yield per unit of land. Intensive agriculture stands in contrast to extensive agriculture, which is what you probably think of when you imagine a small, family farm. Extensive agriculture uses fewer inputs, such as human labor and basic machinery like tractors, and takes advantage of the soil's natural fertility. For animal raising, an example of extensive agriculture is pastoral production, in which animals are grazed outdoors for their entire lives or herded by nomadic farmers. Because it is designed to maximize productivity, intensive agriculture requires many more inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, and often leads to the clearing of more land through deforestation. In the case of animals, this means raising more in less space.
An indoor farm for growing broiler chickens in the Ukraine. davit85 / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Intensive agriculture developed in earnest beginning in the 17th century in Britain, with developments such as more intensive crop rotation which allowed more animals to be fed and raised. Efficiency increased through the 18th and 19th centuries, which saw the rise of selective breeding in livestock for desirable traits such as longer wool in sheep. The current system of factory farming dominated U.S. agriculture by the 1980s. This process has made meat more affordable for the average American and increased efficiency. Since 1960, milk production has doubled in the U.S., meat production has tripled and egg production has quadrupled. However, the profits from agriculture have become concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Between 1950 and 1997, the number of farms in the U.S. declined by 50 percent, while the average farm doubled in size. Today, more than 99 percent of U.S. farm animals and more than 90 percent of farm animals worldwide are raised on factory farms.
How Do Factory Farms Operate Today?
Factory farms are the primary means of raising animals like cows, pigs, chicken and fish. In addition to meat, factory farms are also used to raise animals for milk, eggs and fur. A medium-large factory farm in the U.S. usually consists of 1,000 beef cattle, 700 dairy cows, 2,500 pigs, 55,000 turkeys, 30,000 egg-laying hens, or 125,000 broiler chickens. Control of these farms are concentrated in very few hands. As of 2015, the four largest companies in each sector controlled 85 percent of U.S. beef production, 66 percent of pork production and 51 percent of broiler chicken production. However, the companies do not typically handle the farming themselves, which is considered the least-lucrative part of the production process. Instead, they contract the farming out to individuals who usually have to go into large amounts of debt to get started and can therefore get trapped in unfavorable contracts, risking bankruptcy if they quit. This method was pioneered by Tyson Foods and first came to dominate chicken production. It is now widely used in pork production as well.
What Happens on Factory Farms?
Animals on factory farms are raised to be productive as quickly as possible. They spend their entire lives crowded together indoors, and are either physically mutilated or genetically modified to better accommodate human tastes and close quarters. For example, chickens are debeaked to prevent them from pecking each other and broiler chickens are genetically modified to have larger breasts, since consumers prefer breast meat. Cows and pigs will have their tails removed, or be docked, to discourage biting and to make milking easier. Cows are grown without horns to make it easier to pack them closely together.
Why Is Factory Farming Bad?
Many consider the crowded conditions faced by animals in factory farms to be inherently inhumane. In addition, this method of farming has consequences for human health and the environment in the form of biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, working conditions and disease risk.
Animal Cruelty
Animal abuse on factory farms can be divided into two types: systemic cruelty and egregious cruelty. Systemic cruelty refers to the business-as-usual conditions within factory farms, which animal welfare advocates consider to be inherently cruel. Egregious cruelty refers to specific acts of abuse by farmworkers. While the first type of cruelty is more pervasive, only the second is often prosecuted by law. However, egregious cruelty can also be encouraged and enabled by systemic realities. Ag-gag laws, for example, penalize activists and whistleblowers for documenting incidences of animal cruelty at factory farms. Further, U.S. animal protection laws generally do not apply to either birds or fish. Systemic abuses facing factory farmed animals vary slightly depending on the animal, but all suffer from spending lives confined in close quarters.
Chickens
Nearly ten times more birds are raised and killed for food in the U.S. than any other type of animal. Chickens raised for meat are referred to as broiler chickens. They are often crowded together in groups of 20,000 or more. Poor ventilation means the birds are at risk from ammonia exposure from their own waste, which irritates their eyes, throats and skin. Egg-laying hens do not fare much better. They are kept in containers called battery cages, which have a smaller area than an eight-and-a-half-by-11 sheet of paper. This is considered so cruel that it was actually banned by the European Union in 1999.
Broiler chickens in China. chayakorn lotongkum / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Pigs
Pigs are as smart as dogs and have a natural impulse to root and socialize. However, they are often kept in indoor pens on slatted floors that do not allow these activities. The frustration leads pigs to bite each other's tails, and farmers deal with this by clipping off part of the pigs' tails or their teeth without anesthetics. Pregnant sows in particular suffer in gestation crates, which cause them to lose bone strength and muscle mass because their movement is so restricted. This makes it more likely that they will fall and injure themselves.
A large white pig in a gestation crate with her piglets in Sarthe Valley, France. Auscape / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Cows
Beef cattle are the one farm animal that is still largely raised outdoors. However, they spend the last few months of their lives in feedlots, crowded together but without shelter. They can suffer from heat stress, respiratory problems from dust and digestive problems from being fed corn and other foods they have not evolved to digest. Milk cows, on the other hand, are kept indoors and often tethered. They are artificially inseminated once a year to keep the milk flowing, and then forcibly separated from their calves within a day of giving birth, which can be traumatic for both mother and child. Male calves are then raised as veal, often in crates only 2.1 by 2.5 feet. However, many states are beginning to ban veal crates and the industry is following with promises to phase out their use.
Cows on a factory farm in France. Andia / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Fish
Fish farming is one of the fastest growing forms of agriculture, and about half of the most commonly eaten fish are now raised in farms. Fish are also kept in crowded conditions that encourage stress, injury and disease. Further, fish suffer from the misconception that they do not feel pain. They are killed without being stunned first — either by force, suffocation, freezing or being allowed to bleed out.
Workers process salmons on a production line at a salmon farm on Sept. 26, 2020 in Nilka County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. VCG / VCG via Getty Images
Environmental Harms
In addition to harming the farm animals themselves, factory farming also takes a toll on the planet as a whole. In fact, the practice contributes to many of our most pressing environmental crises including pollution, habitat and biodiversity loss and the climate crisis.
Pollution
The conditions animals face at factory farms extend to their surroundings. So many animals kept in close quarters generate lots of manure, and this manure is first stored in ponds and then spread on fields as fertilizer. However, environmental advocates say that these farms generate more manure than the soil can actually handle, and the rest enters waterways as runoff. This can lead to nutrient pollution, which encourages the growth of harmful algae that deprives water of oxygen, causing dead zones where no life can flourish. In fact, factory farming was blamed for the largest-ever "dead zone" in U.S. history in the Gulf of Mexico. Pollutants from animal waste such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia can also enter the air and threaten the health and well being of farmworkers and the surrounding community.
Biodiversity Loss and Land Use
Animals raised for human consumption also need to eat. Usually, that food takes the form of either corn or soy, and growing it uses up a lot of land. In the U.S., in fact, corn and soy take up a third of the country's agricultural land, and humans only consume less than 10 percent of it. This is an issue that has major global ramifications. Without meat and dairy consumption, it would be possible to feed the world's population while reducing farmland by more than 75 percent. And the expansion of factory farming is a major cause of biodiversity loss. Clearing trees for cattle ranching is responsible for two-thirds of Amazon deforestation. The production of soy to feed livestock is also a major contributor to deforestation.
Climate Change
Emissions and land use mean that factory farming is a major contributor to the climate crisis. The livestock sector as a whole is responsible for 14.5 percent global greenhouse gas emissions. Forty-five percent of those emissions come from feed production and processing and 39 percent from the release of methane by cows and other ruminants. The world's five biggest meat and dairy companies have an equal carbon footprint to ExxonMobil, and the world's top 20 livestock companies emit more than the UK, France or Germany.
Human Health
The coronavirus pandemic has shown a spotlight on how human exploitation of the environment puts human health at risk. Factory farming is a perfect example of this as it threatens human health in many ways, from encouraging the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria to spreading pandemics.
Antibiotic Use
The overcrowding in factory farms has led to an overuse of antibiotics in order to prevent disease from spreading among animals. In fact, 73 percent of antibiotics worldwide are used on animals. In 2017, almost 11 million kilograms of antibiotics and 5.6 million kilograms of medically important antibiotics were sold in the U.S.exclusively for animals in factory farms. Bacteria can develop resistance to these drugs and then spread from animals to humans both through consumption and through run-off pollution from manure. Drug resistant bacteria currently kill 700,000 people a year.
Pandemics
Factory farming can encourage the spread of pandemics in two ways. First of all, the destruction of wild areas for agriculture increases the chance that humans will come into contact with new pathogens. Further, crowded conditions on farms cultivate diseases that may develop and spread. The H1N1 swine flu that killed 151,700 to 575,400 people in 2009 has been linked to a strain that emerged on U.S. pig farms in 1998.
Other Health Concerns
The conditions on factory farms can harm human health in other ways. Pathogens like E. coli can infect humans through manure pollution or food-borne illness. In fact, the grain beef cattle are fed before slaughter increases their risk of E. coli infection, while the practice of feeding dead hens to live hens encourages Salmonella. Further, there is debate over whether the use of hormones to stimulate growth and milk production in cows increases the risk of breast, prostate and colon cancer in humans.
Environmental Justice
The factory farm system doesn't just exploit animals and the planet — it also exploits the humans that work in the industry and the communities that surround it. Factory farming is often an example of environmental racism, in which low-income communities of color are targeted for exposure to unsafe conditions and pollutants.
Slaughterhouse Workers
Many slaughterhouse workers are low-income people of color who do not have many other employment options. Often they are undocumented and face deportation if they speak out about working conditions. The work can be stressful and dangerous. Workers can repeat the same motion 40,000 to 100,000 times per shift, and there are an average of two amputations per month in the industry. The vulnerability of these workers was made apparent during the coronavirus pandemic, when infections broke out at several meat packing plants in the U.S. and Canada. In July of 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that 23 states reported 16,233 COVID-19 cases and 86 deaths in 239 facilities, while 87% of those infected were racial or ethnic minorities.
Rural Communities
The rise of factory farming has diminished rural communities in the U.S. Smaller family farms cannot compete with the larger operations, and mechanized agriculture means that they offer fewer jobs. Further, the smaller businesses that supported family farms, like equipment sellers or local restaurants, have also closed down. For those who remain, conditions are often unhealthy. Pollution from lagoons storing animal waste can cause health impacts like headaches, respiratory problems, skin infections, birth defects and premature death. For example, people in North Carolina who live near hog farms have higher death rates than people who live further away.
Where Is Factory Farming Most Common?
In the U.S., a few types of factory farming are concentrated in particular states and regions. Hog farming is concentrated in the U.S. South and Midwest, particularly North Carolina and Iowa. Broiler chicken farming is heavily concentrated on Maryland's Eastern Shore, while the top states for cattle feedlots are Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Iowa and Colorado. Worldwide China is the world's leading meat producer, followed by the U.S., the EU and Brazil. China has rapidly expanded its pork production in particular, and this includes pork factory farms. In the last 30 years, the country has undergone a similar process of consolidation as the U.S did during the second half of the 21st century: Between 1991 and 2009, the total number of hog farms in China decreased by 70 percent, while the number of pigs living on those farms increased exponentially.
What Is Being Done to Help?
There is a growing movement to shift away from the factory farming model and towards more humane and sustainable forms of agriculture. In the U.S., Sen. Cory Booker has championed a Farm System Reform Act, which he most recently reintroduced in July.
This act would:
- Place a moratorium on new large CAFOs and shutter the largest existing ones by 2040.
- Hold corporations responsible for farm pollution.
- Offer a buyout to farmers who want to leave factory farming.
- Strengthen the Packers and Stockyards Act to protect contract farmers from unfair deals and farm workers from retaliation.
- Restore country of origin labeling requirements to beef and pork products, expand them to dairy products, and prevent imported meat from receiving a "Product of USA" label.
Internationally, Compassion in World Farming has called for a global agreement to end industrial agriculture, similar to the Paris agreement for tackling climate change.
There are also several organizations working to protect farm animals and promote change. Mercy for Animals conducts investigations in order to expose conditions on factory farms, while Farm Sanctuary rescues animals and provides them with safe homes.
What Can You Do?
In addition to supporting organizations that fight for animal welfare and adding your voice to calls for change, there are also lifestyle changes you can make to reduce your support for factory farms. One study has found that embracing a vegan diet is the single greatest thing an individual can do to reduce their environmental footprint. However, you can still shop and eat ethically without giving up animal products. Compassion in World Farming offers a four-step guide:
- Look for labels like "pasture reared" or "free range," which should indicate your meat is from an actual farm and not a factory.
- Buy local — while you can't guarantee your local farm isn't a factory farm, it will probably be easier to find out.
- Cut down on food waste by eating all your leftovers.
- Don't over-eat meat and dairy products.
Takeaway
Transitioning away from factory farming towards a more sustainable, compassionate and healthy agricultural system is a major part of solving the health and environmental crises impacting our planet and our communities. However, meat production and consumption have been rising worldwide since the 1970s, and they are expected to continue to do so if nothing changes. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicts that global meat production will continue to grow, by 40 million tonnes a year by 2029. Public policies and consumer behavior can both play a role in reversing this trend and creating a kinder, healthier food system.
- If Factory Farm Conditions Are Unhealthy for Animals, They're Bad ... ›
- The Scary New Math of Factory Farm Waste - EcoWatch ›
- How Can You Talk to Kids About Factory Farming? These Books ... ›
The announcements come as leaders seek to build momentum before the UN's COP26 climate conference in November.
Xi Announces Ending of Chinese Coal Support Abroad
China will no longer build coal-fired power plants overseas, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Tuesday in an address to the UN General Assembly. While Xi gave no timeline, the announcement is likely to mark the beginning of the end of coal plant construction in the developing world. Depending on when it is implemented, China's new policy could cut off $50 billion of foreign investment and halt the construction of up to 47 planned coal plants in 20 countries, about equal to the entire remaining German coal fleet.
"It's a big deal. China was the only significant funder of overseas coal left. This announcement essentially ends all public support for coal globally," Joanna Lewis, an expert on China, energy and climate at Georgetown University, told The AP. "This is the announcement many have been waiting for."
Asia Society Policy Institute fellow and former climate diplomat Thom Woodroofe described the announcement as a "line in the sand" and told The Guardian, "It is further evidence China knows the future is paved by renewables. The key question now is when they will draw a similar line in the sand at home."
For a deeper dive:
Biden Pledges to Boost Global Climate Funding
President Biden promised to redouble American financial assistance to developing nations to combat and adapt to the climate crisis in his address to the UN General Assembly, Tuesday. "In April, I announced the United States will double our public international financing to help developing nations tackle the climate crisis, and today, I'm proud to announce that we'll work with the Congress to double that number again, including for adaptation efforts," Biden said.
The persistent failure of wealthy nations to meet their own promises to help the developing world is a major obstacle to meaningful progress at the upcoming COP26 UN climate conference. Biden's pledge of $11.4 billion annually, while much more than the current $2 billion the U.S. is contributing, is still far less than the $43.4 billion the world's largest historical polluter would need to contribute to pay its "fair share," according to the independent Overseas Development Institute.
Biden also called for what he described as "relentless diplomacy" to address global crises and rejected the idea of a new Cold War with China.
President Joe Biden addresses the UN General Assembly on Sept. 21, 2021. United Nations
For a deeper dive:
Finance: Yahoo, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, E&E News, Climate Home, Bloomberg, The Hill, HuffPost, Reuters, Axios, POLITICO; Diplomacy: NPR, AP, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, NBC, The New York Times, Reuters, The New York Times, The New York Times
- 5 Issues to Watch at Climate Week 2021 - EcoWatch ›
- Survey Finds International Support for Environmental Protection ... ›
- Immediate Climate Action Can Save U.S. $3.5 Trillion Over Time ... ›
- UN Sounds 'Red Alert' for National Climate Goals - EcoWatch ›
- UN Urges World Leaders to Declare 'Climate Emergency' at Virtual ... ›
Top 10 Cities for Solar in Virginia
When narrowing down the top cities for solar in Virginia, EcoWatch took into consideration solar power generation data from the Energy Information Institute, maps on solar irradiance and potential from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, local government websites and Environment America's latest Shining Cities report.
Based on this information, the top cities for solar in Virginia are as follows:
- Richmond
- Virginia Beach
- Alexandria
- Norfolk
- Roanoke
- Fairfax
- Charlottesville
- Newport News
- Danville
- Blacksburg
EcoWatch
1. Richmond
Virginia's capital city ranks first in the state and 49th in the nation for total solar PV installations. According to the Shining Cities report, there are over 22 watts of solar installed per person in Richmond.
2. Virginia Beach
Although Virginia Beach is better-known for its large offshore wind energy farm, the popular tourist destination ranks second in Virginia and 61st in the nation for total solar PV installations. There are currently over five watts installed per person, per the Shining Cities report.
3. Alexandria
Alexandria earned a SolSmart Gold designation in July 2020, which is the highest designation given by the program. The city also boasts an impressive portfolio of new and promising renewable energy programs, solar feasibility studies and more.
4. Norfolk
NREL's Solar for All maps show that Norfolk boasts one of the highest potentials for solar energy generation and roof-mount capacity. Major corporations have already adopted solar in the area — the IKEA store in Norfolk even features a 180,000-square-foot solar array.
5. Roanoke
In 2012, Roanoke participated in the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings Challenge with the goal of curbing energy use by 20% across 1 million square feet of building space by 2022. In 2018, Roanoke achieved that goal with a 23% energy reduction. The city remains committed to clean energy, as evidenced by its impressive Solarize Roanoke project.
6. Fairfax
Fairfax has also been designated a SolSmart Gold city and has its own Solarize Fairfax County initiative. This project, which gives residents access to free solar assessments, bulk-purchasing discounts, discounted solar batteries and more, has concluded for the 2021 season but may well return in 2022.
7. Charlottesville
In addition to a city-specific solar tax credit and a Solarize Charlottesville program, the city has started putting solar panels on government buildings. Among the solarized buildings are Charlottesville High School, the City Facilities Maintenance Building and the ecoREMOD Energy House.
8. Newport News
This coastal city receives a lot of sunshine… some 215 days a year, in fact. It's no surprise, then, that NREL maps show a high capacity for rooftop solar and an above-average number of buildings suitable for solar.
9. Danville
According to NREL data, Danville has a high potential for rooftop solar capacity and generation, and the city is doing its part to help residents make the switch to clean energy. It has developed its own net metering program for residential solar installations up to 10 kW, as well as invested in two solar farms that are producing about 10 MW of energy to be used by Danville Utilities customers.
10. Blacksburg
In March of 2014, Blacksburg became the first community in Virginia to launch a Solarize campaign, and NREL maps show it has a high potential for solar generation. This SolSmart Silver city offers many solar-focused resources for residents, including a solar panel installation checklist, information for those interested in solar jobs and guidance on solar access within the state.
Where Solar Panels Work Best
While there are many solar-smart cities in Virginia, some are better suited than others for PV installation. The best cities for solar include those that have:
- Decent sun exposure: Cities that get consistent year-round sunlight tend to be good places to invest in solar, hence the coastal communities we've included on our list.
- High local utility costs: Solar power tends to be more valuable in cities that have high electrical costs. More on that in a moment.
- Local rebates and incentives: Some cities make solar investment more attractive by implementing local net metering programs, tax rebates or other financial incentives.
Average Virginia Electricity Costs
As mentioned, residents in places with higher electricity costs stand to benefit more from installing solar panels. In Virginia, the average monthly electrical consumption is 1,122 kWh, which is roughly on par with nearby states such as South Carolina and West Virginia, though a bit higher than in Maryland or Washington, D.C. The average monthly electric bill is $135.46, which is on the high side compared to most neighboring states.
Virginia Solar Tax Incentives
Homeowners in Virginia can take advantage of a few solar tax exemptions and incentives to help offset the cost of solar panels. For example, there is a property tax exemption, which means that although solar panels will increase the value of a home, they will not increase your property taxes. Virginia also has a state-wide net metering program, which means that any surplus energy generated by solar panels can be fed back into the electric grid in exchange for credits from your utility company.
Federal Solar Tax Credits
Homeowners in Virginia (and anywhere else in the country) can also claim a residential federal tax credit worth 26% of their total solar installation cost. This can offset the initial investment expenditure considerably, but keep in mind that this credit may be phased out by 2023 unless Congress acts swiftly to renew it.
Virginia Solar Regulations
There are a few laws that impact solar adoption in Virginia. Some notable examples include:
- The Solar Rights law protects the rights of homeowners to install solar panels, without being obstructed by their homeowners association or other community association. HOAs do have some leeway to regulate the aesthetics of solar installations, however.
- Virginia's Zero Carbon Bill will create more than 30,000 solar jobs by the year 2030.
- The Virginia Clean Economy Act is set to create a number of new incentives for homeowners to go solar. It also creates robust clean energy standards for utility companies and fines providers unable to meet those standards.
Final Thoughts: Top Cities for Solar in Virginia
Solar energy presents a valuable opportunity for homeowners to lower electric bills, reduce their impact on the environment and become less dependent on traditional utilities. However, in Virginia, some cities are more solar-forward than others. If you didn't see your city on this list (and even if you did), there are plenty of ways individuals can push for more solar power in their areas. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Install solar panels on your home
- Educate your neighbors about the benefits of solar energy
- Reach out to your elected officials and urge them to set strict renewable energy goals