Let's Make Cotton Sustainable

There are numerous aspects of cotton cultivation and the impact they have on the environment. After the readings this week and the Cotton, Inc. videos I’ve come to the conclusion that currently cotton cultivation is not sustainable, but there are ways and new 

technologies being introduced that will potentially make cultivating cotton sustainable.

First, there are different types of cultivation for cotton and they all have their environmental impacts. Conventional cultivation is used heavily in farming of cotton. In developing countries most are small family operated farms and include a mixed cropping system (multiple crops grown as well as cotton). Downfall on conventional systems is that most crops are not picked by hand resulting in higher wages and more used machinery making it less environmentally friendly. Organic cultivation is only a small percentage of cultivating cotton. It uses synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms, which are popular in China and the United States.  The downfall to organic cultivation is the growing must be certified and it’s hard to start using pre-grown-on land because of the contaminated soil. So new land must cleared resulting in deforestation, but can become unsustainable if soil is not suitable for long-term annual farming resulting in loss of land much faster. The last type of cultivation is IMP (Integrated Pest Management) which “‘focuses on the long- term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties’” (Kooistra & Termorshuizen, 2006). This all results in keeping reducing risks to health of humans and manages the pest population during the growth of cotton.  The downfall to IMP cultivation is there needs to be trained professional and this results in higher costs. There is another cultivation process mentioned in the reading and also brought up in a video called “Protecting and preserving soil with today’s cotton-growing techniques” is conservation tillage. This process involves no tilling of the land which in return keeps the water during rainfall better, prevents erosion, and prevents weeds from forming. There were no negatives mentioned. 

In conclusion, currently cotton is not all that sustainable, however there are ways associations are trying to inform farmers ways to becoming more sustainable. Currently, according to Cotton Inc. website video, Cotton Inc. is turning recycled jeans into home insulation! That’s ingenious. In my opinion more recycling like this should be implemented. This doesn’t involve the cultivation of cotton, but is a great way to decrease apparel ending up in landfills and waste sites. The way we can improve cotton cultivation will continue to be researched and tweaked, but until then why not recycle or upcycle cotton to allow a longer life of the fiber?