We seldom think about the origin and impact of the clothes we wear, but this well-researched book shows us why we should.
Tonti is a consultant and journalist who has worked in many parts of the global fashion industry in Melbourne, Sydney, London, and Paris, and she has seen enough to understand the numerous negative environmental effects. She believes that the fashion supply chain is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, with polyester being a particular villain. Resource waste and soil degradation are also parts of the picture. A key issue is that the fast-fashion trend has led to people buying more clothes than they need, sometimes ludicrously more. “Various reports describe how members of Gen Z refuse to re-wear an outfit once they’ve posted a photo of themselves in it on social media—the terrifying amalgamation of free market and toxic psychological forces,” writes the author. One solution is for consumers to choose clothes made from natural fibers that last longer. Individual pieces might be more expensive, but the long-term value is there. Not afraid to literally get her hands dirty, Tonti chronicles her travels around the world to find farms that are trying new methods of sustainable production. Even cotton, often seen as an environmental problem due to the amount of water it needs, can be grown sustainably with careful planning and in the right location. The author also highlights the useful work being done with cashmere, silk, and linen, and she explores the potential of hemp and new recycling systems. “For the imperiled fashion industry, regenerative agriculture presents an intriguing solution,” she notes. Refreshingly, Tonti avoids the ideological, scolding tone often used by those concerned with sustainability issues. Even more, her love of fashion and good clothes shines through, injecting the narrative with an uplifting sense of optimism and purpose.
Tonti’s insightful book shines light into the darker corners of the fashion business and points to new ways forward.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-64283-271-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Island Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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SEEN & HEARD
Everyone’s favorite avuncular socialist sends up a rousing call to remake the American way of doing business.
“In the twenty-first century we can end the vicious dog-eat-dog economy in which the vast majority struggle to survive,” writes Sanders, “while a handful of billionaires have more wealth than they could spend in a thousand lifetimes.” With that statement, the author updates an argument as old as Marx and Proudhon. In a nice play on words, he condemns “the uber-capitalist system under which we live,” showing how it benefits only the slimmest slice of the few while imposing undue burdens on everyone else. Along the way, Sanders notes that resentment over this inequality was powerful fuel for the disastrous Trump administration, since the Democratic Party thoughtlessly largely abandoned underprivileged voters in favor of “wealthy campaign contributors and the ‘beautiful people.’ ” The author looks squarely at Jeff Bezos, whose company “paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018.” Indeed, writes Sanders, “Bezos is the embodiment of the extreme corporate greed that shapes our times.” Aside from a few passages putting a face to avarice, Sanders lays forth a well-reasoned platform of programs to retool the American economy for greater equity, including investment in education and taking seriously a progressive (in all senses) corporate and personal taxation system to make the rich pay their fair share. In the end, he urges, “We must stop being afraid to call out capitalism and demand fundamental change to a corrupt and rigged system.” One wonders if this firebrand of a manifesto is the opening gambit in still another Sanders run for the presidency. If it is, well, the plutocrats might want to take cover for the duration.
Even if they're pie-in-the-sky exercises, Sanders’ pitched arguments bear consideration by nonbillionaires.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9780593238714
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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