The natives burned the vegetation to make forage meadows. It happened long before the Amazon. It was the American Northeast, which in 1700 - tells the environmental historian Geoff Cunfer - had 9 million acres transformed from forest to grassland. Ideal environment, created by man to lead large herds of buffalo.
European colonization and industrialization destroyed this habitat. It was noticed that the thick and resistant epidermis of the buffalo was perfect for the transmission belts of the machines. A steam engine, powered by coal, or a water wheel transferred energy to other workstations via leather belts attached to wheels and pulleys. Like the car engine fan belt. After 1870 a bison hunt was unleashed, protected by the American army to promote development and to subdue the Indians, brought to starvation by the rarefaction of the animal's flesh. (jacobinmag.com / 2019/10/03)
Deforestation is now opposed by environmentalists, who demand a simultaneous reduction in water consumption. Pump it and treat it costs: equipment, energy, chemicals, tanks, wells, transportation. Actions that release carbon, greenhouse gases and, perhaps, global warming. Even more certain is the polluting effect, as it is returned to the nature impoverished, dirty, harmful, dangerous to health.
Purifiers are often mere fig leaves, supported by capital and politics, with the paid accompanying media concert.
The environmental water footprint?
For a kilo of beef it seems to take 15400 liters of water. Other estimates two years ago (watercalculator.org) indicate 16000 liters for a pair of leather shoes, 9500 liters for cotton jeans. Approximate calculations, which nevertheless confirm the fact that, to the unrestrained use of water to cultivate cotton and raise animals, the necessary one is added to treat, dye, transform into fabric or leather the raw material.
Traditional fashion, in other words, aggravates a serious situation, further polluting land and water, with purifications based on chemistry and energy. All together, legislators, technicians, industrialists in the textile and finished leather industries have long shared this idiocy.
Progress here has been blocked for centuries, even dating back to prehistoric times for tanning.
European colonization and industrialization destroyed this habitat. It was noticed that the thick and resistant epidermis of the buffalo was perfect for the transmission belts of the machines. A steam engine, powered by coal, or a water wheel transferred energy to other workstations via leather belts attached to wheels and pulleys. Like the car engine fan belt. After 1870 a bison hunt was unleashed, protected by the American army to promote development and to subdue the Indians, brought to starvation by the rarefaction of the animal's flesh. (jacobinmag.com / 2019/10/03)
Deforestation is now opposed by environmentalists, who demand a simultaneous reduction in water consumption. Pump it and treat it costs: equipment, energy, chemicals, tanks, wells, transportation. Actions that release carbon, greenhouse gases and, perhaps, global warming. Even more certain is the polluting effect, as it is returned to the nature impoverished, dirty, harmful, dangerous to health.
Purifiers are often mere fig leaves, supported by capital and politics, with the paid accompanying media concert.
The environmental water footprint?
For a kilo of beef it seems to take 15400 liters of water. Other estimates two years ago (watercalculator.org) indicate 16000 liters for a pair of leather shoes, 9500 liters for cotton jeans. Approximate calculations, which nevertheless confirm the fact that, to the unrestrained use of water to cultivate cotton and raise animals, the necessary one is added to treat, dye, transform into fabric or leather the raw material.
Traditional fashion, in other words, aggravates a serious situation, further polluting land and water, with purifications based on chemistry and energy. All together, legislators, technicians, industrialists in the textile and finished leather industries have long shared this idiocy.
Progress here has been blocked for centuries, even dating back to prehistoric times for tanning.
Il massacro dei bufali. L'acqua sprecata e sporcata. Ora basta!
Gli indigeni bruciavano la vegetazione per farne prati da foraggio. Accadeva molto prima dell'Amazzonia. Era il nord-est americano, che nel 1700 - racconta lo storico ambientalista Geoff Cunfer- aveva 9 milioni di acri trasformati da foresta a prateria. Ambiente ideale, creato dall'uomo per condurre grandi mandrie di bufali.
La colonizzazione europea e l'industrializzazione distrussero questo habitat. Ci si accorse che la spessa e resistente epidermide del bufalo era perfetta per le cinghie di trasmissione dei macchinari. Un motore a vapore, alimentato da carbone, oppure una ruota idraulica trasferivano energia ad altre stazioni di lavoro tramite nastri di cuoio attaccati a ruote e pulegge. Come la cinghia del ventilatore di motore d'auto. Dopo il 1870 si scatenò una caccia al bisonte, protetta dall'esercito americano per favorire lo sviluppo e per sottomettere gli indiani, portati alla fame dalla rarefazione della carne dell'animale. (jacobinmag.com /2019 /10 /03)
La deforestazione è adesso contrastata dagli ambientalisti, che chiedono una contemporanea riduzione dei consumi d'acqua. Pomparla e trattarla costa: attrezzature, energia, prodotti chimici, serbatoi, pozzi, trasporto. Azioni che sprigionano carbonio, gas serra e, forse, il surriscaldamento globale. Ancor più certo è l'effetto inquinante, in quanto viene restituita alla natura depapeurata, sporca, nociva, pericolosa per la salute.
I depuratori spesso sono mere foglie di fico, sorrette da capitale e politica, con il concerto d'accompagnamento remunerato dei media.
L'impronta ambientale idrica?
Per un chilo di carne di manzo pare occorrano 15400 litri d'acqua. Altre stime due anni fa (watercalculator.org) indicano 16000 litri per un paio di scarpe in cuoio, 9500 litri per jeans in cotone. Calcoli approssimativi, che tuttavia confermano il fatto che, all'uso sfrenato di acqua per coltivare cotone ed allevare animali, si aggiunga quello necessario per trattare, tingere, trasformare in tessuto o in pelle finita la materia prima grezza.
La moda tradizionale, in altre parole, aggrava una situazione seria, inquinando ulteriormente terre e acque, con depurazioni basate su chimica ed energia. Tutti insieme, legislatori, tecnici, industriali del tessile e della pelle rifinita, da troppo tempo condividono tale idiozia.
Il progresso qui è bloccato da secoli, addirittura risale alla preistoria per la concia.
Stop, ora basta!
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