Greenwashing occurs when corporations seek to appear socially responsible while continuing harmful environmental policies behind the scenes. As Thunberg points out, while it’s now trendy to claim to be a “sustainable” brand, mass production of clothes continues to have ecological impacts ranging from excessive water usage, plastic microfibers entering into ecosystems, and overconsumption leading to waste, with clothing ending up in landfills. Many fashion brands also rely on sweatshop labor, perpetuating exploitative labor dynamics, while expecting their “eco-friendly” branding to conceal those choices.
In the cover story, Thunberg reveals she has not purchased any clothing in three years, and the last thing she bought was purchased secondhand; but she also makes clear that individual consumption changes will not meet the needs of this moment. “You cannot mass produce fashion or consume ’sustainably’ as the world is shaped today. That is one of the many reasons why we will need a system change,” Thunberg continued in her Twitter thread.
System changes are likely to be the only thing that can meet the scale of the crisis outlined in the IPCC’s latest report, which finds that, due to carbon emissions, global temperatures are likely to go up by more than 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels — the milestone set during the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which sought to create a global consensus on combating climate change — within the next 10 to 20 years. Rising global temperatures will inevitably result in rising seas and increased climate extremes, and the IPCC report confirms that some of these changes are now unavoidable.
President Joe Biden signed the executive order to reenter the U.S. into the Paris Agreement, which Donald Trump had abandoned, on his first day in office.
But grassroots climate activists believe that the Paris Agreement doesn’t go nearly far enough. They’ve noted that its organizing body is influenced by fossil fuel companies, and, most crucially, is non-binding for participating countries. “The Paris Agreement is a starting point — it’s a commitment to commit. Anything the U.S. has done in the past is insufficient,” Sydney Welter, climate advocacy and accountability in policy director at Care About Climate, told Teen Vogue in December 2020.
What might those commitments look like? In the U.S. Congress is currently debating a sweeping infrastructure bill that could help reduce emissions and create more sustainable living environments. The IPCC report also comes in advance of the November COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, which will serve as yet another opportunity for countries to recommit themselves to structural changes to respond to climate change.
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Greta Thunberg Got Her First COVID-19 Vax Dose and Called Out Global Vaccine Inequality
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