As the petrochemical industry winds down, in World 256 all fabric is made once again from natural products– linen, cotton, silk, wools of every kind and rayon. When our clothing and bedding are finally too worn out to be used, we take them to the Gardens, where they are laid out on the land as mulch to prepare fields to grow food, or shredded to be added to compost piles. No fabric ever goes into a landfill. Everything is returned to the carbon cycle to enrich the earth.
(You can actually do this now if you chose.)
What if …
… all fabrics were gently returned to the soil?
Issue targeted:
This addresses the vast amounts of fiber that is put into landfills around the world each year.
Inspiration:
I am a gardener and we are using worn out bedding and clothing to reclaim land. I try to only buy clothing and linens made with natural fibers.
This World was contributed by Janet McNaughton (located in Newfoundland, Canada), using a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence which allows others to share and adapt the work in any medium and for any purpose, providing that they credit the author and share their material using the same Creative Commons licence.
Does this World remind you of something?
I am keen to hear about any historical or contemporary real-world examples – whether individual practices, subcultures or mainstream activities – that this fiction brings to mind.
Please share any such examples using this form. Thank you!