Why Use Jute? | Lets Go Organic! | Conventional Vs Organic Cotton

Green Facts - Why Use Jute?

It doesn’t just take a super-hero to make the world a better place. All it takes is to alter the path a bit, and take a small step on to a new route. A route towards a better tomorrow... En-route Jute.

To start off, let’s pledge this plastic bag we are holding now... be the last bag made of Plastic.

Sure you have been tutored a lot about earth rattling issues like Global Warming, have dealt with arduous calamities like the Tsunami, weathered many catastrophes, and championed many causes that jeopardise our tomorrow. But have you ever bothered to simply look around your immediate vicinity, and find the world dying a painful death amidst bits and pieces of toxic... of plastic?

Plastics don’t biodegrade. They photodegrade. To us dwellers of this earth, it simply means we are living more dangerously day by day.

Each year, over a trillion plastic bags end as litter. If that didn’t sound alarming enough, maybe its analogy to your city being filled with nothing else than garbage would.

Every year, hundreds of thousands marine habitants die as a result of consuming everyday plastic that’s toxic. Sure you wouldn’t desire to partners in this ghastly massacre.

Plastic bags take ages to decompose emitting deadly gases such as Benzene, known to cause cancer in humans. Who would want to die a plastic death?

So much for eliminating the enemy in our lives... But is there a way to live without it?
Yes, there is, and it’s called Jute Bags.

Jute bags have been used for ages for reasons that go beyond the fancy and attractive designs they are available in. Jute bags are the best alternative to plastic bags being biodegradable, reusable and environmentally friendly.

Green Facts - Lets Go Organic!

Organic cotton is a far superior alternative to chemical laden conventional cotton.
More and more farmers around the world are growing cotton without costly, harmful chemicals. Their yield is high and the quality of the cotton they grow is equal to or better than conventionally grown cotton. Their methods support biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, improve the quality of soil and often use less water. Growing organically takes more time, requires more knowledge and skill, and, at least for now, costs a bit more. But it is worth it since it doesn't contain any hidden costs to our environment...

So what's the problem with Standard Cotton?

The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in the United States as "possible," "likely," "probable," or "known" human carcinogens (acephate, dichloropropene, diuron, fluometuron, pendimethalin, tribufos, and trifluralin). (Source: EPA)
In the US, it takes about 1/3 of a pound of pesticides and herbicides to grow enough conventional cotton for just one T-shirt.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, more than 84 million pounds of pesticides and 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizerswere applied to 14.4 million acres of cotton in the US in 2000. In 1997, large apparel companies purchased 2.15 million pounds of organic cotton, which eliminated an estimated 43,000 pounds of pesticides and 485,190 pounds of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. (Organic Fiber Council)

Research shows that the vast amounts of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, soil additives and defoliants used to grow non-organic cotton wreak havoc on soil, water and air around the globe. In 1995 approximately 250,000 fish were killed in Lawrence, Alabama, when heavy rains washed lethal concentrations of methyl parathion and endosulfan from cotton fields into a 16-mile stretch of a creek that emptied into a nearby lake. (C. Cox, 1995, Cotton Spraying Kills Fish)

"When the planes still swoop down and aerial spray a field in order to kill a predator insect with pesticides, we are in the Dark Ages of commerce." Maybe one thousandth of this aerial insecticide actually prevents the infestation. The balance goes to the leaves, into the soil, into the water, into all forms of wildlife, into ourselves.

Green Facts - Conventional Vs Organic Cotton

Organic Cotton is Different
By choosing organically grown cotton, you can reap all the benefits of cotton’s beauty, comfort, and strength while avoiding harm to people and the planet.
Seed Preparation	Conventional	Organic
	• Typically treats seed with FUNGICIDES or INSECTICIDES. • Uses GMO seeds for approximately 70% of US-grown cotton.	• Uses UNTREATED seeds. • NEVER USES GNO (genetically modified organism) seeds.
Soil & Water	Conventional	Organic
	• Applies SYNTHETIC fertilizers. • Loss of soil due to predominantly MONO-CROP culture. • Requires INTENSIVE IRRIGATION.	• Builds strong soil through CROP ROTATION. • Retains water more efficiently thanks to increased ORGANIC MATTER in the soil.
Weed Control	Conventional	Organic
	• Applies HERBICIDES to soil to inhibit weed germination. • Repeatedly uses HERBICIDES to kill weeds that do grow.	• PHYSICAL removal rather than chemical destruction. • Controls weeds through cultivation and HAND HOEING.
Pest Control	Conventional	Organic
	• Uses INSECTICIDES heavily, accounting for approximately 25% of world consumption • Uses PESTICIDES; the nine most common are highly toxic; five are probable carcinogens. • Frequently uses AERIAL SPRAYING, with potential drift onto farm workers, neighbouring wildlife and communities.	• Maintains a BALANCE between “pests” and their natural predators through healthy soil. • Uses BENEFICIAL INSECTS, biological and cultural practices to control pests. • May use TRAP CROP, planted to lure insects away from the cotton.
Harvesting	Conventional	Organic
	• Defoliates with toxic CHEMICALS.	• Relies mostly on the seasonal FREEZE for defoliation. • May stimulate defoliation through WATER management.