Is fashion worth killing the Earth for?

Forests contain a diversity of living beings and ecosystems. Choose ethical fashion to protect animals

The decline of biodiversity

The history of biodiversity began within a billion years of the origin of planet Earth. The first life forms appeared on Earth approximately four billion years ago. Over the last fifty million years, following the disappearance of the dinosaurs, new mammalian species have emerged^1.

In 2004, a renowned team of scientists claimed that it has taken man only forty years to cause the disappearance of 58% of wild species, including the dodo, the Tasmanian Tiger, the Great Auk, the South African Zebra, and the Indian pink-headed duck, amongst others^2.

In 2016, the WWF claimed that by the end of the decade, extinction would reach 67%^3.

A new study conducted by Professor Ron Milo published 21 May 2018 at the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS), demonstrates that humanity, although representing 0.01% of terrestrial biomass, has now resulted in the disappearance of 83% of wild mammals^4.

The Fashion Industry’s Impact on Biodiversity

The exploitation of animals by the fashion industry is one of the main factors behind the decline in biodiversity. Scientists have shown that most of the species on the red list for endangered species have seen their natural habitat deteriorate in areas where there is animal exploitation.

Twenty-three out of thirty-five important zones for biodiversity are directly affected by the exploitation of animals to create shoes and clothes.

In 1995, Stuart Pimm estimated that recent species extinction rates were 100 to 1,000 times higher than those before humans arrived on Earth. According to the latest report by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), biodiversity in terms of its three components—genes, species, and ecosystems—is continuing to decline, to such an extent that over half of all mammals are now threatened by extinction^5.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has estimated that the extinction rate of species is up to 500 times higher than that measured in the fossil archives, and that fifteen of the twenty-four essential ecosystem services are in decline^6.

The fashion industry is contributing to several practices that are putting combined pressure on wild plant and animal life, particularly on birds, the great apes, and various species in critical danger of extinction:

• Deforestation, which replaces forests with cereal crops used to fatten animals;
• The conversion of natural land into pastures for livestock;
• The hunting of cattle predators and other wild animals;
• And intensive animal production systems whose toxicity affects the quality of the water, air, and soil on planet Earth^7.

By promoting large-scale animal exploitation, the fashion industry is contributing to deforestation and damaging human and non-human habitats, which is causing the extinction of all forms of life on Earth. Biodiversity will continue to die out over the years, with a peak of extinction by the end of the decade.

We need to radically change our methods of consumption, including those relating to clothing; otherwise, Homo sapiens may well end up destroying every ecosystem on the Earth—the miracle of life in the universe.

BACH, Jean-François, and DERCOURT, Jean, 9 September 2010, Libres points de vue d’académiciens sur la biodiversité, Académie des Sciences, p. 73.

BAILLIE, Jonathan E. M., HILTON-TAYLOR, Craig, and STUART, Simon N. (eds), 2004, ‘2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: A Global Species Assessment’, IUCN, Cambridge (UK), pp. 88, 92, 104, and 140

WWF, Rapport planète vivante, 2016, Gland (CH), p. 6.

BAR-ON, Yinon M., PHILLIPS, Rob, and MILO, Ron, 17 May 2018, ‘The Biomass Distribution on Earth’, New Brunswick (NJ), The State University of New Jersey.

BACH, Jean-François, and DERCOURT, Jean, 9 September 2010, Libres points de vue d’académiciens sur la biodiversité, Académie des Sciences, p. 83.

STEINFELD, Henning, GERBER, Pierre, WASSENAAR, Tom, CASTEL, Vincent, ROSALES, Mauricio, HAAN, Cees (de) 2006, L’ombre portée de l’élevage, FAO, Rome, p. 204, p. XXIII.

STEINFELD, Henning, GERBER, Pierre, WASSENAAR, Tom, CASTEL, Vincent, ROSALES, Mauricio, and HAAN, Cees (de) 2006, L’ombre portée de l’élevage, FAO, Rome, p. 242.

TWENTY-THREE OUT OF THIRTY-FIVE IMPORTANT ZONES FOR BIODIVERSITY ARE DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY THE EXPLOITATION OF ANIMALS TO CREATE SHOES AND CLOTHES