the Village Knittiot

If there is one thing that becomes more and more apparent the older I get, it is that there is very little in this world that is black and white — shades of gray are certainly the order of the day. Trying to find ways to reduce your impact on the environment is no exception. You make one change with the facts you have. Later you may learn that there are other factors involved that you were not aware of and you realize that you’ve been going around feeling really good about yourself for doing something that isn’t all that great in the long run. So, you change again with your new information and the cycle continues. Life is nothing if not constant evolution.

In response to my last post I received a number of thoughtful and articulate responses that provided some excellent food for thought. They also made me realize that I ought to clarify what I am trying to accomplish for myself a little bit more.

First of all, I want to declare the Village a guilt-free zone. I find, almost without fail, that when the subject of the environment and our impact on it comes up, the response is usually thick with guilt. Whether it is a confession that you don’t recycle and you feel badly about it or a defensive stance that wants to justify or even deny our impact, there is an underlying sense of guilt. I know that I easily fall into that trap as well. However, I have discovered over the years that guilt is not a very useful emotion, it is more like a sticky trap. It seldom helps us make lasting changes and usually is only there to be our whipping post when we inevitably can’t live up to unrealistic expectations (yeah, I know, I’m talking to myself here).

Second of all, this is not about denial. It is about exposure and awareness and exploration. I wanted to define some loose parameters that would help me open some new doors that I hadn’t thought to look behind before. As someone who is a big fan of those gray areas in life, I fully expected in my searching to discover that it is not as simple as saying — chemical bad, plant pretty. And this is exactly the case. As a couple of the commentors pointed out, just because something is “natural” doesn’t mean it is not toxic. Many of the mordants used with natural dyes are quite harmful. This will certainly require a little more in depth analysis before I get started on plant dying. On the other hand, many modern chemical dyes have been manufactured to bond more thoroughly with the fibers so that fewer chemicals actually wash out in the end and are very low in toxicity (appropriately enough they seem to be called low-impact dyes). And while the chemicals are still an issue with large-scale textile mills, the real culprits are the amounts of water and energy required for the process. Yet even in that, strides are being made. In more developed nations, and especially in Europe (where environmental laws appear to be more stringent) and also Australia, the impact has been severely diminished over the last couple of decades.

However, as more and more textile operations move into third world nations with few, if any, environmental laws, they are relying on older methods that require considerably more water and energy and the harsher chemicals are still being used and washed into the water supply. I know I can’t change that, but I don’t want my inability to effect that kind of change to be the reason I don’t try and explore other options. Options such as locally dyed or produced fibers from smaller companies and homebased businesses like Black Bunny Fibers (owned and operated by local Philly yarn goddess Carol of Rosie’s Yarn Cellar and Go Knit in Your Hat) or from small-scale, farm-based operations like Cranberry Moon Farms (I met the shepherd of this farm last year at Rhinebeck and she was just wonderful). These are just a couple examples of dozens upon dozens of smaller businesses that are worth supporting.

Thirdly, this project for me is strictly about cultivating awareness. As I said, I’m certainly not going to change the world. And I’m not trying to here. Well, I guess in a way I am — but only insofar as I am changing myself. As Tara pointed out, given the amount of knitting that gets done and the amount of laundry people do, a much more impactful project would be to get everyone to stop using laundry detergents that are petroleum based. And she is absolutely right. There are far more impactful changes you can make in your life. The purpose of this exercise or experiment was to get you thinking about alternative knitting options — that can mean anything, including working with natural fleeces without dyes, using more organic fibers from larger companies like Cascade or Blue Sky Alpacas, experimenting with plant dyes, supporting local yarn producers, buying from a nearby farm, ordering plant dyed fibers from California or Australia. Really, it is wide open.

I hope this helps clarify what I am thinking. I also sincerely hope that the zeal and excitement and enthusiasm in my last post came across as just that. If there is one thing I dislike, it is self-righteousness in any form. I don’t care if it is religious in nature, environmental, political or anything else. Personal choices are personal and as much as I would sometimes like a soapbox, preaching is just plain obnoxius. I much more prefer dialogue, because it implies that we both (or all) have things to learn from each other. Whenever I get excited about a project like this or find some new tidbit of information that catches my eye, I tend to blather on about it. Mostly what I am looking for is conversation and so I always appreciate all your thoughtful comments.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 28th, 2006 at 8:00 am and is filed under Summer of Knitting Naturally. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.