According to Oxford dictionary, cotton is «a soft white fibrous substance which surrounds the seeds of the cotton plant and is made into textile fibre and thread for sewing». No one knows exactly, how old cotton is. Researches hold by scientists in the Open Cotton Bollcaves in Mexico resulted in finding bits of cotton bolls and pieces of cotton cloth that were at least seven thousand years old. Another fact, that proves cotton has been used by humanity for a long period of time, tells that cotton "was being grown, spun and woven into cloth three thousand years BC" in the Indus River Valley in Pakistan (The Story of Cotton, cotton.org). According to cotton.org, Columbus found cotton growing in the Bahama Islands when he was discovering America and before him cotton cloth were brought to Europe about eight hundred A.D. by Arab merchants. First time cotton was spun by machinery is dated 1730 England. After the industrial revolution in England took place and the invention of the cotton gin in the U.S. cotton goods took an important place in the world (The Story of Cotton, cotton.org).
Since the industrial revolution in England took place, many things in the cotton industry have changed. According to cottoncampus.org, cotton is “is the largest natural fiber supplying the global demand for textile products” and the main alternatives to cotton “are non-renewable chemical fibers” (Cotton Sustainability: Frequently Asked Questions, cottoncampus.org).
Any work, even after the industrial revolution in England, is accomplished by man. According to historylearningsite.co.uk, working conditions on the cotton factories in 1790 were far from being good or even normal. In 1790, according to Trueman, employment of children was made on a regular basis. Child employment was much cheaper than employment of an adult and much more profitable, as long as children could do everything an adult could, plus children were much more effective at “crawling under machines to clear up fallen cotton thread and tying together loose ends” (The Cotton Industry and the Industrial Revolution, 2016). Nowadays, according to Martinuzzi, Kudlak, Faber and Wiman, working conditions differ from region to region and from one textile sector to another. Authors report, that high technology industries “have working conditions similar to the chemical industry”; fashion manufacturing is filled with “relatively low wages” but “health and working conditions and the problem of monotonous and repetitive work” are a number one concern; in Eastern Europe, where “working conditions are at the very bottom end of all industries”, child labor occurs from one place to another and working conditions remind slavery (CSR Activities and Impacts of the Textile Sector, 2011).
Along with all the issues the cotton industry faces, there are plenty of positive points. According to cottoncampus.org, cotton is “sustainable, renewable, and biodegradable” material, which can supply the market in an environmentally-friendly manner, unlike petroleum based chemical fibers, which are non-renewable. In the USA, according to cottoncampus.org, the cotton production is regulated by FDA (Food and Drug Administration) as a food crop, which means, that there are “no pesticide residue on the raw fiber or the textile products made from the fiber” or the amount of pesticide is unharmfull to the human body. With the advent of new technology, production of cotton with the usage of pesticide in the US, is increasingly falling down. Cottoncampus.org states that “only 8.5% of all pesticides applied to crops are used to grow cotton”. Regarding the use of water for cotton fields irrigation, the situation is satisfactory and earth well being oriented. According to cottoncampus.org, cotton is “very drought and heat-tolerant” and does not require enormous amount of water. Due to the technological advances, farmers that are involved in cotton growing, use forty five percent less water than twenty five years ago.
WWF (World Wild Life) agrees that cotton production does a great job on providing income for “250 million people worldwide and employs almost seven procents of all labor in developing countries» but does not share an idea that cotton production provides an environmentally sustainable effect (WWF, Overview). According to WWF, production of one kilogram of cotton requires more that twenty thousand liters of water, which makes cotton a «water wasting crop» (Cotton Farming. Cotton: a Water Wasting Crop). According to WWF, «24% and 11% of the global sales of insecticide and pesticides» falls on cotton production. Prolonged use of these chemicals leads to serious diseases of employees and areas, where cotton is germinated suffers from the pernicious influence of these chemicals. WWF Global states, that since 2002 the use of genetically-modified cotton varieties has remarkably increased “reaching 20% (67.7 million ha) of the global crop area in 2002” (Cotton Farming. Cotton: a Water Wasting Crop).
Since 2006 the world's population growth stimulates the increase in demand for cotton fiber by 4.5 billion pounds annually Cotton Sustainability: Frequently Asked Questions, cottoncampus.org). Reserves of clean drinking water are becoming lower, territories contaminated with pesticides and other agricultural chemicals that are no longer suitable for the cultivation of any crops, are growing. This trend does not bode well for humanity and upcoming generations. The introduction of the latest developments in the agricultural sector, the use of the latest developments to combat environmental pollution and reduce the effect of fertilizers is vital for any industry in particular.
References
Cotton Counts (n.d.) The Story of Cotton. The History of Cotton. Web. 21 Mar, 2016.
Retrieved from : https://www.cotton.org/pubs/cottoncounts/story/
Cotton (n.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. Language Matters. Web. 21 Mar, 2016. Retrieved from:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cotton
Cottoncampus.org (n.d.) Cotton Sustainability: Frequently Asked Questions. Web. 21 Mar,
2016. Retrieved from: http://www.cottoncampus.org/cotton-environmentally-friendly-sustainability/
Martinuzzi, А., Kudlak, R., Faber, С., Wiman, A. (2011) CSR Activities and Impacts of the
Textile Sector. Vienna University of Economics and Business. RIMAS Working
Papers, No. 2/2011. Web. 21 Mar, 2016. Retrieved from :
http://www.sustainability.eu/pdf/csr/impact/IMPACT_Sector_Profile_TEXTILE.pdf
Trueman, C. N. (Mar 2015) The Cotton Industry And The Industrial Revolution. The History
Learning Site. Web. 31 Mar 2015. 21 Mar, 2016. Retrieved from :
historylearningsite.co.uk
WWF (n.d.) Overview. World Wild Life. Web. 21 Mar, 2016. Retrieved from :
http://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/cotton
WWF Global (n.d.) Cotton Farming. Cotton: a Water Wasting Crop. Web. 21 Mar, 2016.
Retrieved from :
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/freshwater_problems/thirsty_crops/cotton/
