The life cycle of a t-shirt - Angel Chang

翻译人员: dottie zhao 校对人员: Qinyang Zeng

回想一下经典的白色T恤。

Consider the classic white t-shirt.

Annually, we sell and buy two billion t-shirts globally,

每年，全球会买卖20亿件T恤，

使其成为世界上 最常见的服装单品。

making it one of the most common garments in the world.

But how and where is the average t-shirt made,

不过T恤都是在哪里， 以及如何制作出来的，

and what's its environmental impact?

对环境又有怎样的影响呢?

Clothing items can vary a lot,

服装种类繁多，差别迥异，

but a typical t-shirt begins its life on a farm in America, China, or India

但一件经典的T恤是在美国， 中国或印度的农场里诞生的。

where cotton seeds are sown, irrigated and grown for the fluffy bolls they produce.

在那里，棉花的种子通过播种，灌溉 生长，生产出了蓬松的棉铃。

Self-driving machines carefully harvest these puffs,

随后，自动收割机开始收割它们，

an industrial cotton gin mechanically separates the fluffy bolls from the seeds,

工业棉机械设备 将这些蓬松的棉铃与种子分开，

and the cotton lint is pressed into 225-kilogram bales.

并将棉绒压制成225公斤的棉包。

种植棉花需要大量的水和农药。

The cotton plants require a huge quantity of water and pesticides.

2,700 liters of water are needed to produce the average t-shirt,

生产每件T恤平均要消耗 2700公升的水，

enough to fill more than 30 bathtubs.

足以填满30多个浴缸。

同时，棉花的生长对 杀虫剂和农药的需求，

Meanwhile, cotton uses more insecticides and pesticides

than any other crop in the world.

也远超世界上任何其他作物。

These pollutants can be carcinogenic,

这些污染物有致癌性，

harm the health of field workers,

会危害工作人员的健康，

and damage surrounding ecosystems.

并损害生态系统。

Some t-shirts are made of organic cotton grown without pesticides and insecticides,

一些T恤由无农药和 杀虫剂的有机棉制成，

but organic cotton makes up less than 1%

但天然有机棉的产量少之又少，

of the 22.7 million metric tons of cotton produced worldwide.

不到全球2270万吨 棉产量的百分之一。

Once the cotton bales leave the farm,

一旦棉包离开农场，

纺织厂就会将它们送到纺纱厂，

textile mills ship them to a spinning facility,

这些工厂通常位于中国和印度，

usually in China or India,

where high-tech machines blend,

在那里，高科技机器进行混合，

card,

梳棉，

comb,

精梳，

pull,

拉扯，

stretch,

延伸等操作，

and, finally, twist the cotton into snowy ropes of yarn called slivers.

最后，将棉花拧成白色的纱绳， 就是我们所说的银条。

Then, yarns are sent to the mill,

然后，纱绳送被到纺织作坊，

where huge circular knitting machines

在那里，大型的环形针织机

weave them into sheets of rough grayish fabric

将它们编织成 粗糙的灰色织物，

treated with heat and chemicals until they turn soft and white.

再经过高温和化学处理， 直到它们变白，质感柔软。

下一步，通过将织物浸入 漂白剂和染料，

Here, the fabric is dipped into commercial bleaches and azo dyes,

which make up the vivid coloring in about 70% of textiles.

可以将70%的纺织品 染成鲜艳的颜色。

然而，其中一些染料 会含有致癌的镉，

Unfortunately, some of these contain cancer-causing cadmium,

lead,

铅，

chromium,

铬，

and mercury.

和汞元素。

Other harmful compounds and chemicals can cause widespread contamination

其他有害化合物和化学品 会作为有毒废水

流入河流和海洋，造成严重的污染。

when released as toxic waste water in rivers and oceans.

Technologies are now so advanced in some countries

如今对于一些技术先进的国家，

在整个生产织物的过程中

that the entire process of growing and producing fabric

barely touches a human hand.

几乎不需要手工操作。

But only up until this point.

但是仍有一点不足。

After the finished cloth travels to factories,

在成品布料被送往工厂的路上，

often in Bangladesh, China, India, or Turkey,

通常是在孟加拉国，中国， 印度，或土耳其等国家，

human labor is still required to stitch them up into t-shirts,

仍需手工将它们缝合成T恤，

这种复杂的工作 机器根本做不了。

intricate work that machines just can't do.

This process has its own problems.

这个过程本身也存在问题。

Bangladesh, for example,

例如，孟加拉国

which has surpassed China as the world's biggest exporter of cotton t-shirts,

已经超越了中国， 成为最大的棉T恤出口国，

employs 4.5 million people in the t-shirt industry,

在T恤行业雇用了450万人，

but they typically face poor conditions and low wages.

但他们的工作环境恶劣，报酬极低。

制造环节完成后，所有这些T恤 通过船，火车和卡车被运往

After manufacture, all those t-shirts travel by ship, train, and truck

to be sold in high-income countries,

高收入国家出售，

a process that gives cotton an enormous carbon footprint.

这个运送过程给棉 留下了巨大的碳足迹。

Some countries produce their own clothing domestically,

因此，一些国家选择 在自己的国家生产服装，

取消了这个污染阶段，

which cuts out this polluting stage,

but generally, apparel production accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions.

但实际上，服装生产 占据了全球碳排放量的10％。

And it's escalating.

该数字仍然在急速攀升。

Cheaper garments and the public's willingness to buy

大多数消费者喜欢 购买便宜的服装，

boosted global production from 1994 to 2014 by 400%

使其全球产量从1994年 到2014年增加了400％，

to around 80 billion garments each year.

达到了年产量800亿件。

最后，在消费者的家中，

Finally, in a consumer's home,

the t-shirt goes through one of the most resource-intensive phases of its lifetime.

T恤经历了其生命周期中 最耗费资源的过程。

In America, for instance,

例如，在美国，

the average household does nearly 400 loads of laundry per year

一般家庭每年 需要用400次洗衣机，

each using about 40 gallons of water.

每次需要消耗大约40加仑的水。

Washing machines and dryers both use energy,

洗衣机和烘干机都要用到能源，

with dryers requiring five to six times more than washers.

而烘干机的耗电量 是洗衣机的五到六倍。

在过去的20年，服装消费 发生了巨大的改变，

This dramatic shift in clothing consumption over the last 20 years,

driven by large corporations and the trend of fast fashion

大公司引领的快速时尚潮流

has cost the environment,

破坏了环境，

the health of farmers,

危害了农民的健康，

and driven questionable human labor practices.

对劳动力的压榨更是饱受诟病。

It's also turned fashion into the second largest polluter in the world after oil.

时尚业成了除了石油以外， 世界上最大的污染来源。

But there are things we can do.

但是，我们可以改变这一现状。

Consider shopping secondhand.

考虑购买二手衣物。

Try to look for textiles made from recycled or organic fabrics.

试着寻找由回收或有机织物 制成的纺织品。

Wash clothes less and line dry to save resources.

减少洗衣次数，自然晒干， 从而节约资源。

Instead of throwing them away at the end of their life,

与其把它们扔掉 或者一直存放着，

donate, recycle, or reuse them as cleaning rags.

不如进行捐赠，回收或再利用， 例如作为清洁抹布。

最后，你可能会问自己，

And, finally, you might ask yourself,

how many t-shirts and articles of clothing will you consume over your lifetime,

在你的一生中，要消耗 多少件T恤和其他衣物，

and what will be their combined impact on the world?

如果把它们加起来， 会对世界造成怎样的影响？