The life cycle of a t-shirt - Angel Chang

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

Consider the classic white t-shirt.

想想經典的白 T 恤。

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

每年，全球 T 恤 買賣的數量達 20 億件，

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

讓它成為世界上最常見的服裝。

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

但一般的 T 恤是 如何和在哪裡製作的呢？

and what's its environmental impact?

它對環境的影響又是什麼？

Clothing items can vary a lot,

服飾可以有千萬種變化，

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

但就典型的 T 恤來說，它的一生 始於美國、中國，或印度的農田，

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

在農田中，棉花種子經過播種、 灌溉、成長，產生出蓬鬆的圓莢。

Self-driving machines carefully harvest these puffs,

自動駕駛的機器會仔細地採收棉球，

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

工業用軋棉機以機械 將蓬鬆的圓莢與種子分離，

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

每 225 公斤的棉絨 就會被壓縮成一捆。

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

棉花植物需要大量的水和農藥。

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

生產一般的 T 恤需要 用到 2,700 公升的水，

enough to fill more than 30 bathtubs.

這水量足以裝滿超過 30 個浴缸。

Meanwhile, cotton uses more insecticides and pesticides

同時，棉花要用的殺蟲劑和農藥

than any other crop in the world.

比世界上任何作物都還要多。

These pollutants can be carcinogenic,

這些污染物可能會致癌，

harm the health of field workers,

傷害現場工人的健康，

and damage surrounding ecosystems.

破壞周圍的生態系統。

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

有些 T 恤是用有機棉製造的， 這種棉沒有農藥或殺蟲劑，

but organic cotton makes up less than 1%

但全球 2,270 萬公噸的棉產量中，

of the 22.7 million metric tons of cotton produced worldwide.

只有不到 1% 是有機棉。

Once the cotton bales leave the farm,

一旦這些棉捆離開了農田，

textile mills ship them to a spinning facility,

紡織廠就會將它們運送到紡紗廠，

usually in China or India,

通常都在中國或印度，

where high-tech machines blend,

在那裡，會有高科技機器來做混合、

card,

纖維梳理、

comb,

梳織、

pull,

拉直、

stretch,

延展，

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

最後，將棉花扭轉成 雪白的紗線，稱為銀絲。

Then, yarns are sent to the mill,

然後，紗線會被送到磨坊，

where huge circular knitting machines

那裡有大型的針織布圓筒機

weave them into sheets of rough grayish fabric

將它們編織成一片片 粗糙的灰色織物，

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

再用熱和化學品處理， 直到它們變柔軟、變白。

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

此時，織物會被浸入 商業用漂白劑和偶氮染料，

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

紡織品中約有 70% 的 鮮豔色彩都是這麼來的。

不幸的是，其中有些 含有會致癌的鎘、

Unfortunately, some of these contain cancer-causing cadmium,

lead,

鉛、

chromium,

鉻，

and mercury.

和汞。

Other harmful compounds and chemicals can cause widespread contamination

其他有害化合物和化學製品 若以有毒廢水的形式

when released as toxic waste water in rivers and oceans.

排放到河流和海洋中， 也可能會造成廣泛的污染。

Technologies are now so advanced in some countries

現在某些國家的科技相當進步，

that the entire process of growing and producing fabric

讓整個種植到布料生產的過程

barely touches a human hand.

幾乎不需要使用到人力。

But only up until this point.

但也只是到這個階段而已。

After the finished cloth travels to factories,

完成的布料會被送到工廠，

often in Bangladesh, China, India, or Turkey,

通常位在孟加拉、中國、 印度，或土耳其，

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

這裡的工人仍需將布料縫製成 T 恤，

機器還不能做到 這種複雜精細的工作。

intricate work that machines just can't do.

這個過程也有問題存在其中。

This process has its own problems.

Bangladesh, for example,

以孟加拉為例，

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

它已經超越中國， 成為世界最大的棉 T 恤出口國，

employs 4.5 million people in the t-shirt industry,

T 恤產業就僱用了 450 萬人，

但他們通常面臨 惡劣的工作環境與低廉的薪資。

but they typically face poor conditions and low wages.

T 恤製造出來後， 全都由船、火車和卡車來運送

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

to be sold in high-income countries,

到高收入國家銷售，

a process that gives cotton an enormous carbon footprint.

這個過程讓棉有相當大量的碳足跡。

Some countries produce their own clothing domestically,

有一些國家在國內生產自己的衣服，

which cuts out this polluting stage,

能夠避免這個帶來污染的階段，

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

但一般來說，服裝生產 就佔了全球碳排放量的 10%。

And it's escalating.

這個數字還在逐步上升。

便宜的服裝和大眾的購買意願

Cheaper garments and the public's willingness to buy

boosted global production from 1994 to 2014 by 400%

推動了全球生產，從 1994 年 到 2014 年成長了 400%，

to around 80 billion garments each year.

達到每年約 800 億件服裝。

最後，在消費者的家中，

Finally, in a consumer's home,

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

T 恤還需要經過它一生中 最耗費資源的階段。

In America, for instance,

比如，在美國，

the average household does nearly 400 loads of laundry per year

一般家庭每年平均 要洗近 400 次衣服，

each using about 40 gallons of water.

每次要用近 40 加侖的水。

洗衣機和烘乾機都需要使用能源，

Washing machines and dryers both use energy,

with dryers requiring five to six times more than washers.

且烘乾機需要的能源 比洗衣機要高五到六倍。

過去的 20 年， 大公司和快速時尚的趨勢

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

driven by large corporations and the trend of fast fashion

造成衣服消費有了巨大的轉變，

has cost the environment,

讓環境付出代價，

the health of farmers,

農夫失去健康，

and driven questionable human labor practices.

使用人力的做法也受到質疑。

結果也讓時尚變成世界上 第二大污染者，僅次於石油。

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

But there are things we can do.

但還是有我們可以做的事。

Consider shopping secondhand.

可以考慮購買二手商品。

試著去找用回收 或有機織物製成的紡織品。

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

Wash clothes less and line dry to save resources.

減少洗衣服次數， 並採用晾乾來節省資源。

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

不用的衣服不要丟掉，

donate, recycle, or reuse them as cleaning rags.

可以捐贈、回收， 或當成抹布再利用。

最後，你可以問問自己，

And, finally, you might ask yourself,

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

你一生中會消費 多少件 T 恤及衣物？

and what will be their combined impact on the world?

它們結合起來會對世界 造成什麼影響？

（當我們在製作這些 和環境有關的 TED 影片時，

我們常常會想著 訂閱這個頻道的年輕人，

以及要你們繼承環境問題 是多麼不公平的事，

這些問題可能早在 你們出生前就存在了。

好消息是，我們看到世界各地的學生

採取行動來正面面對 世界上最大挑戰。

比如，TED-Ed 的學生之音計畫裡，

在全世界數千名學生的發表當中，

好多人選擇了永續性做為簡報主題。

你可以到 TED-Ed Club 的 YouTube 頻道上看這些演說。

若想進一步了解這個計畫，

請造訪 http://ed.ted.com/clubs。

最後，謝謝收看。）