Students from the University of York have staged a protest at a major shopping centre to highlight the danger posed to the planet by the fashion industry. The mass ‘die-in’, in which demonstrators played dead, involved speakers and other members of the Extinction Rebellion group who used banners and placards to raise awareness of this issue.
Merry Dickinson, co-coordinator of Extinction Rebellion York, explained: “The fast fashion industry is symptomatic of a wider issue, that we live in a hyper-consumerist society that is based upon the exploitation of our planet and people. We have a very limited amount of time left to act, and the fast fashion industry is entirely antithetical to that and puts the future of humanity at risk through its never-ending pursuit of profit.”
Fast fashion is an enormous contributor to pollution, and yet it continues to grow relatively unchallenged in the face of climate catastrophe. As London fashion week was about to begin, the group wanted to draw attention to the harmful effects of fast fashion and show ordinary people that they do not have to support such an industry.
“The fast fashion industry is one of many industries contributing to the climate crisis. We are living in an age of climate emergency, and yet we continue to act as if nothing is wrong,” added Extinction Rebellion York co-coordinator Mark Matthews.
Fast fashion is just one among many contributors to the destruction of our living planet and endangers the entire future of humanity. There are already people suffering the destructive and deadly consequences of climate catastrophe, and Extinction Rebellion believes that it is our duty as citizens to push both government and industry to act while we still can and avert the most dangerous consequences of climate catastrophe.
Comments