The Dangers of Fast Fashion
My film starts off with footage of a wave filmed from below the water, which is a beautiful image but it is also meant to be somewhat disorienting – it is the ocean without any visual reference to land or to humans. There is then a sharp transition to the “surface,” as we begin to see the haute couture process, which is the slow, deliberate, thoughtful creation of beautiful clothing. I then included clips of this beautiful clothing being shown on a runway. My goal in including these clips was to help the viewer understand that these garments are made and displayed to make us covet them, but this is still an exclusive world available to only a few people. During this section of the film, the music is slow and dramatic, which represents how in the mid 1900s clothing was created slowly with lots of attention to detail. It was a slower process with less being produced and less being consumed. The clothing was still being made to last.
Next, there is a quick segue to catwalks in the 80s and 90s. The clips in this section are at a faster speed to show how the fashion industry has become more fast paced. The clothing also starts to become more accessible, as we see an increasing number of models walk the runway. I repeated a clip of photographers swirling around a group of supermodels multiple times to draw attention to the idea that they are sending out the images of the show to the masses. Also, this repeated clip of the photographers ‘swirling’ across the screen is meant to reflect the footage of the wave at the beginning of the film. During this part of the film, “Material Girl” by Madonna is playing to represent how the world is becoming increasingly materialistic as the fashion industry is expanding.
There is then a segue to clips that depict fast fashion. We see footage of luxury fashion shows full of extremely bright colors and patterns that will be trendy for a short period of time and then discarded. I sped up these clips to emphasize how quickly these trends cycle. We then see clips of people dumping out huge boxes filled with colorful clothing from Shein (a fast fashion company), which reveals how these luxury fashion shows drive the desire for more and incentivize other companies to make clothing as quickly and cheaply as possible. During these fast fashion clips, the audio is multiple overlapping voices describing the negative impacts of fast fashion. This audio is meant to emphasize the manic quality to the production and consumption of fashion and the chaos that the fast fashion industry has caused to the earth. A clip from a fashion show on the beach reminds us of the disconnect between this consumption and the nature that it impacts, specifically the ocean.
To further emphasize that fast fashion has heavily impacted the ocean, I transitioned to footage of large amounts of trash in the ocean, which includes clothing that is discarded. I repeated the same slow, dramatic music from the beginning of the film to remind the viewer of the first clip of the ocean without the presence of any human impact.
What Does it Mean to Surf?
My parents and I drove through hundreds of miles of drought stricken land to get to the Surf Ranch, a famous wave pool in the middle of California. I started to smell manure from the surrounding cattle farms as we pulled up to the logo-imprinted wooden gates. Silver airstream trailers lay past these gates, surrounding a pool that was thousands of feet long and only a few feet deep. A sand-colored tarp sat underneath the chlorinated water, and drones circled above it. A train-sized machine ran alongside the edge of the pool, powerful enough to form the water into perfect, uniform waves. These waves were manufactured to resemble the ocean’s waves, but they were so perfectly shaped and lasted so long that it would take a lifetime to find something like them in the ocean. In the middle of August in central California, there was no need for a wetsuit. I jumped in the water, and while I waited for my engineered wave, my heart was pounding. Cameras were on me from every direction. Though the environment felt high-pressure, it was almost impossible not to have fun. The Surf Ranch is known for being like Disneyland for surfers. The quick repetition of perfect waves is designed to accelerate the learning experience, meaning that people who have never surfed before can stand up within their first few tries and people with surfing experience can improve quickly. After a day on those waves, I was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as we started our drive back to the coast.
The next morning I woke up to the sound of the ocean and made plans to surf that day. I struggled to put on my sandy wetsuit, which allows me to linger long enough in the cold, salty water to catch a few good waves. Unlike the scheduled, uniform waves at the Surf Ranch, the ocean’s waves are unexpected. They come in sets, but the sets come with almost no predictability and can be ruined by a shift in the wind, so I bob in the water waiting and watching for the right wave. Over the years, while I have waited for waves, I have watched great white shark fins glide past, I have seen baby dolphins leap playfully by their mother’s side, and stingrays have brushed up against my legs. In my rubber wetsuit, I recognize that I am an intruder and have very little control here. This lack of control makes me feel more connected to nature, as I become part of and subject to its forces. I am alert and present because I know that I have to pay attention to everything around me. Even though I am in the cold water for hours, when I emerge I feel rejuvenated.
The Surf Ranch helped me understand that surfing is not simply the act of riding a wave, it is getting into the ocean and making myself vulnerable to the power of nature. The wave pool uses energy to manufacture a perfect wave, but it doesn’t come close to replicating the whole experience of surfing. For learning, improving, and competing, the wave pool is an incredible tool. It becomes dangerous though when wave pools are no longer being used as a tool but rather as a replacement for an experience that currently connects millions of people to the ocean and makes them appreciate it. The Surf Ranch is licensing their technology, and wave pools are already being built around the world. Companies are even developing communities around these wave pools. We as humans tend to take what we like about nature and fabricate hollowed out versions of it, and ironically this practice ends up separating us from the very nature we are emulating.
Imperfect Environmentalism
I was standing in the shower, listening to music and thinking about the new outfit I wanted to buy and the color I wanted to paint my nails. The hot water felt amazing after surfing for hours in the freezing ocean. I let my thoughts drift, losing track of time. Piercing the cozy enclosure of my shower, an ear splitting, though familiar, scream shattered my peace. “Helena, you’ve been in the shower for twenty minutes… again! I thought you were an environmentalist.” At first, I was ridiculously annoyed by my mom’s criticism, a harsh interruption to my blissful distraction. But as I looked down and became aware of the gallons of water flowing down the drain, I began to feel like a hypocrite, preaching one thing and practicing another.
For the past four years, living more sustainably has been one of my biggest goals. I was on the Eco Council at my middle school, started a straw free campaign in San Francisco, won the International Ocean Film Festival, and have a blog about protecting the ocean. These efforts made me feel like I could sit on my high horse and nag my friends and family about taking care of the environment, and yet there I was: taking preposterously long showers. I realized that my hypocrisy showed itself in a million other ways too. I buy heavily packaged makeup after cleaning up plastic on the beach. I shop at fast fashion stores right after going thrifting. I call oil companies evil while happily jumping on airplanes to travel. I use a plastic coffee cup one day and a glass mason jar the next. While I deeply care about the environment, I fail over and over and over again to match my actions to my values.
A couple months ago, I had a conversation with my aunt, who is both vegan and an animal rights activist, that completely changed my perspective. After expressing my own shame about my failings, both in the shower and as a semi plant-based eater myself, she offered me this statement: “it’s more effective to have thousands of people who are mostly vegan than one completely perfect vegan.” This insight made me think about environmentalism as a whole and helped me understand that each of us doing our individual best to help the environment may be the best way to make a difference. Changing behavior can be hard, especially when we think it has to be radical and overnight. Also, not everyone has the privilege to make radical changes to their lifestyle in order to live more sustainability. But we desperately need to shift our culture to be more mindful of the environment and take action in every way we can. Even if we all embrace imperfect environmentalism, it still won’t be enough to pull us out of the climate crisis. It would, however, help get many more people on board with climate activism and ultimately put pressure on large corporations and governments to make changes.
Since this conversation with my aunt, I have tried not to be paralyzed by perfectionism, to get comfortable with failure, and to take manageable steps towards a more sustainably-minded lifestyle. With this new mentality, I have worked towards a few new goals. First, I am trying to take much shorter showers, which, embarrassingly, has been hard for me to accomplish. I have started out by timing myself in the shower so that I am aware of how long I take and how much I need to cut down. I have also reduced my consumption of animal products by trying to have a mostly plant based diet. The transition to eating minimal amounts of meat wasn’t as difficult for me because I have never eaten red meat, and I have always been conscious of where my meat comes from. But trying to go dairy free has been much harder and virtually impossible when there is mint chip ice cream in the freezer. I am also trying to use less plastic by being conscientious of a product’s packaging. I opt to buy more of my clothes from thrift stores and “shop” my friends’ (and my mom’s!) closets. And as I spend so much time in the ocean, I make it a point to clean up the beach when I see trash.
I am FAR from perfect, but I have begun to hold myself accountable to these goals. Maybe one day I’ll be a perfect vegan, and maybe I won't, but either way I will continue to take steps toward sustainability and try to make a difference. I know we are no longer looking ahead at a climate crisis, we are in the midst of one. I hope there is still time for all of us to embrace imperfect environmentalism, because the idea that we would all have to be perfect tomorrow seems unrealistic.
Sustainability during the Coronavirus
The coronavirus pandemic has caused many people, including me, to become less environmental and greatly increase the amount of plastic waste we produce. This is mainly because products that involve or are packaged in single use plastics are generally more sanitary, and are therefore can be safer to use during the coronavirus pandemic. Even Lauren Singer, who is the CEO of a company called Package Free and has lived a zero waste lifestyle for 8 years, wrote about how she had to go against her values, use plastic, and produce waste because of the pandemic. She explained that sometimes it is necessary to “pivot away from one value to prioritize another; in this case pivoting from sustainability to create and sustain a strong, thriving, and inclusive community. If that means buying plastic packaged food, using single use cups, or getting takeout from local restaurants, do what you need to feel safe and to help others feel safe as well.”
Keeping our community healthy is extremely important, even if we create more waste in doing that, but there are also several ways to be sustainable in a way that is safe. It was hard to find reliable research or information about staying sustainable during the coronavirus because it is such a new topic. However, I came up with my own list of ways to help the environment during the pandemic.
Wear a reusable fabric mask. Reusable masks reduce the production of waste and prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (link to fabric masks)
Learn more about the environmental issues around you. Also, try to find ways to help solve these problems, like cleaning up trash around your neighborhood. (link to trash cleanup, eco friendly during corona?, socially distanced)
Post on social media to spread awareness about the environment. This will help educate other people about the issue, especially because many people spend more time online during quarantine.
Determine what changes you need to make in order to lead a more sustainable life after the coronavirus and quarantine. Use any extra time to set yourself up for this lifestyle.
Try not to buy hand sanitizers or lysol wipes that are packaged in single use plastics. A more sustainable solution would be to buy the products in bulk and move them to smaller reusable containers. You could also reuse the plastic packaging to make art.
Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Restaurants Program
The Surfrider Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a goal of protecting the oceans. They have chapters all over the world, and many volunteers join these chapters. After reading their website, I became interested in the Surfrider Foundation and reached out to their volunteers. I got the chance to interview a woman named Morgan, who has been volunteering for the organization for about 5 years. She does a lot of work with Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Restaurants Program in Santa Barbara. Morgan explained that her family owns a restaurant in New Jersey, so she is familiar with the restaurant industry, the trash it produces, and the challenges of cutting back on trash.
I was curious about how the Ocean Friendly Restaurants Program started. During the interview, Morgan explained that the program originated from the Huntington Beach chapter. Then, other chapters got on board and the program started to gain speed. The Surfrider Foundation realized that the program could make an impact on a national level, so the headquarters got involved and helped more chapters join. The Ocean Friendly Restaurants Program was launched in Santa Barbara in 2018, and there are about 30 restaurants in Santa Barbara that are on board now.
The Surfrider volunteers have worked hard to spread the word about the program and convince restaurants to become ocean friendly. Morgan described that the first step was getting a team of volunteers together and making a list of all the restaurants in Santa Barbara. The team then identified which restaurants were already on the right track, and which restaurants would be more challenging to get on board. The volunteers started off by working with the restaurants that were easy to convince so that they could quickly build some momentum. In order to spread the word, the volunteers hosted an event in Santa Barbara and celebrated the launch of the program. At the event, there were local elected officials and press, and scientists who study plastic pollution gave speeches. The volunteers also go to the restaurants in person and try to convince them to join the program, which is a strategy that has been difficult to continue during the coronavirus.
In order to become ocean friendly, a restaurant needs to fulfill specific criteria. This criteria was developed by the Surfrider Headquarters. It requires restaurants to stop using styrofoam and plastic bags, recycle properly, use reusable foodware for onsite dining, and only provide plastic utensils and paper straws upon request. Each requirement is crucial and protects the environment in a different way. However, one of the first and most important requirements is having no styrofoam. This is because when styrofoam gets into the ocean, it breaks up into tiny pieces that are very hard to clean up. These pieces later become microplastics that are commonly ingested by animals.
During the interview, Morgan described one of the program’s greatest successes: the first Ocean Friendly Restaurants Week. During this week, there was a lot of promotion of the ocean friendly restaurants and each restaurant highlighted an ocean friendly dish. The restaurants donated the proceeds from the food to the Surfrider Foundation, which helped to raise funds for the Santa Barbara Surfrider chapter and for other ocean conservation projects.
However, Morgan also explained the challenges that she and her team faced while trying to convince certain restaurants to get on board. It was especially difficult to get restaurants that primarily do takeout to join because takeout generally involves lots of single use plastics. Also, some restaurants couldn’t afford to replace their plastic and styrofoam because the more sustainable options tend to be more expensive.
The community response to this program has been positive. Because Santa Barbara is on the coast, most people feel connected to the beach and the ocean, so they want to help protect the ocean and keep trash off the beach. People also seem to appreciate being able to eat in an ocean friendly restaurant because they don’t have to think about making sustainable choices while they eat.
Although the program has been successful, many people still don’t have access to restaurants that are ocean friendly. Morgan gave me advice on how to be as sustainable as possible while eating at a restaurant that is not ocean friendly. She explained that the ideal solution is to eat at the restaurant, rather than getting takeout. However, eating at a restaurant is difficult right now because of the coronavirus. If takeout is the only option, it is important to ask for no disposable utensils, no straw, and no plastic bag and to bring your own reusable items. Also, make sure to ask for nothing disposable while placing your order so the restaurant is prepared and doesn’t end up giving you lots of plastic
An Introduction
Hi! My name is Helena and I’m a high school student in the Bay Area. I am passionate about the environment, especially the ocean. Throughout the past few years, I have been involved in the Eco Council at my middle school, entered and won the International Ocean Film Festival, and helped to start a Straw-Free SF campaign. I want to learn more about the environment, stay involved, and try to help make a difference by writing articles and posting them on this blog. Also, I am very interested in photography and I want to continue to pursue it by including photos of the ocean and nature.
One main reason I love the ocean is because I love to surf. When I’m surfing, I see so much plastic both in the ocean and on the beach, which has motivated me to learn more about the issue and try to help. I have also always loved marine animals, and I want to do my best to help protect them. In my later posts, I’m hoping to write about several different topics, possibly including the use of plastic in restaurants, beach cleanups, the science behind ocean pollution, and how we can help spread the word about this issue. Stay tuned for more!