Gastropod's Thoughts on Slowly but Surely

Hi, my name is Gastropod.  My best friend is called Goo.  I like her chiefly because she grows lots of hostas, yum, yum.  She also has a website called The Sustainable Living Project, which should be all about being nice to snails but she's far too busy being nice about bees and just about everything else on the planet.  This week she's being getting her knickers in a twist about organic cotton; organic cotton knickers to be precise.  And your underpants.  She thinks they're toxic. 

Ok, not necessarily your underpants, which may or may not be toxic, but the cotton that they're made with.  Cotton is one dirty crop.  Cotton production is responsible for 25% of the world's pesticide usage.  (Being a pest I take this personally!)  Many of these pesticides are persistent within the environment and have bioaccumulative properties.  This means they hang around for a long time, work their way into the food chain, the higher up the food chain the more concentrated the toxins become.  Livestock fed on cotton-derived feeds have been rendered useless because of their toxicity.  Sometimes it pays to be this low down on the food chain scale - hedgehogs, be scared! 

Pesticides employed in cotton production don't only harm pests.  They harm beneficial insects, birds and fish.  They also harm the humans that work with them, many of these pesticides were originally developed as nerve-gas agents in the second world war.  Lots of these humans live in poverty and are unable to defend their rights to work in safety, with dignity and for decent pay.  Ill health as a direct result of pesticide exposure further reduces their already poor life-chances.  Many of these humans are only children. 

---

Gastropod has a better idea: How About 100% Cotton and 100% Ethical?

Ok, maybe I didn't, Goo does most of the thinking.  If snails did all the thinking instead of humans there would not be any pesticides.  This is how it goes - once  you factor in the true cost of cotton production and it's associated trades - it might really just be possible to grow organic cotton in a way that does not perpetuate cycles of poverty.  (Being a gastropod cycles of any kind don't do much for me, I like to go on foot.)  The end product might be a little more expensive, but it will be of a higher quality and you'll get to wear it longer and life all-round will be a lot nicer for so many people and other living things on this planet.  Find out more about 100% organic cotton and 100% ethical and visit Goo's latest blog on the subject.

I'm going to have a blog of my own (See tab at top of page) to keep you updated on Goo's latest activities and rants.  Join me again on Slowly but Surely.  I hope you like the picture of wood anemones at the top.  I'll get Goo to change it to some nice hostas once they are out, maybe with a few good signature nibbles from myself.  In the mean time, take it easy, enjoy life in the slow lane, you get to see so much more from here.   Remember to hug your friends, here is a picture of me doing so.  The other snail is not Goo, for reasons beyond my understanding she doesn't want to hug me.