How Much Does a T-Shirt Cost?

What do you pay for a t-shirt? About $15? That seems like a reasonable price, but have you ever considered the true cost of a simple cotton t-shirt? Have you thought about the human and environmental impact that goes into creating this standard item of clothing?

A t-shirt has an environmental impact from beginning to end. Growing cotton requires lots of water and heavy pesticides, which pollute the air and water.The cotton is shipped elsewhere to factories where chemical dyes, bleaching agents, and detergents are used to prepare the fabric. The fabric may require shipment to another factory where workers cut and sew the shirts before they are once again shipped out across the world. Even the t-shirt labels contain chemical dyes.

Then, of course, there is the human impact. Where was your t-shirt made? Honduras? Indonesia? China? Pakistan? Bangladesh? These countries have few labor laws to protect their workers. While the making of a t-shirt does create jobs for many, often women and children, these are generally low-paying and grueling workplaces, which mainly keep employees in poverty with their low wages. Workers cut, sew, and package the t-shirts, usually in cardboard and plastics, which have their own environmental impact. The farmers who grow the cotton are subjected to harsh pesticides and many live in countries where labor laws are lax and children, who are most susceptible to the dangers of pesticides, are often used to harvest the cotton.

Once you get your t-shirt home, it must be kept clean, requiring more detergents and the use of energy to dry it. When it is worn out, the t-shirt may be recycled, but just as likely, it is tossed, either into a landfill, or burned as garbage, adding more chemicals into the air and our drinking water.

Now, what would you say is the cost of a t-shirt? Pretty expensive if you count in the safety concerns for both our environment and our global family. Before you make your next purchase whether it be clothing, food, housing, etc, ask yourself these questions:

• What are the effects, both positive and negative, of this item on you, other people, animals, and the environment?
• What alternatives would do the most good and the least harm to you, other people, animals, and the environment?

These two questions can guide you to making choices that align with your values. Your everyday choices and where you spend your dollars can have a real effect on the world. Despite the six billion people on our planet, each one of us can make a difference for the rest of us. Sometimes we must choose from poor options, but even under these circumstances, we can and should choose with intention.

What are the other options if we are looking for a t-shirt? We could buy one in a second hand shop, borrow one from a friend, choose an organic cotton t-shirt, or decide to renew an old t-shirt with some non-toxic fabric paint or dyes. What other alternatives can you think of? 

DANEEA BADIO - COMMUNITY SERVICE BIO

Daneea Badio is the Site Coordinator for the City of Marietta’s Franklin Road Weed and Seed Project.  In this role, Daneea works with more than 12,000 area residents, local businesses, area schools, scores of community partners, multi-level government and law enforcement partners, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. 

Weed and Seed is a community-based, multiagency approach to law enforcement and crime prevention sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice.  Since 2006, Marietta’s implementation of this innovative, comprehensive strategy has resulted in Franklin Road’s crime being cut in half.  Additionally, Daneea’s Weed and Seed efforts have resulted in $1.4 million dollars in direct funding, plus more than $10 million in leveraged funding obtained to support community revitalization efforts throughout the Franklin Road area.  At the neighborhood level, Daneea works closely with the members of the Franklin Road Community Association, local apartment managers, residents, youth and others to assure the success several annual community events such as the Easter Egg Hunt, Teen Night, Movie Night – Screen on the Green, Back to School Bash, National Night Out, Youth and Law Enforcement Symposium and Holidays Around the World.  These events provide entertainment, resources, school supplies, holiday gifts, awareness, education and opportunities for area residents to connect with one another.

Daneea also heads the Franklin Road Anti-gang Taskforce, where she has coordinated gang prevention programming for the past four years.  This programming provides comprehensive support to area families through a family stability model which includes financial management training, parenting classes, resource referrals, educational and employment enrichment services.  This initiative also made available a variety of new youth programs such as tutoring, life skills, mentoring, swimming lessons, dance classes, martial arts, golf lessons, football and basketball programs.

As supervisor of the Franklin Road Early Learning Initiative since 2008, Daneea oversees two Parent Educators who provide school readiness education for families with children ages 0-5 years old.  This program includes home visiting using the Parents as Teachers curriculum, parent leadership training and school transition activities.  The Early Learning Initiative has served as many as 400 area families.

Daneea also serves on several Boards including the Marietta Police Athletic League (PAL), YELLS (Youth Empowerment through Learning, Leading and Serving) and the Advisory Board for Sheltering Grace Ministries.  Marietta PAL provides educational and recreational programs which give young people the opportunity to know police officers as friends, mentors and role models.  YELLS is an afterschool and mentoring program which pairs high school students with elementary and middle schools students.  YELLS youth meet weekly to bond, grow academically, build leadership skills and work together to design and implement community service projects.  As an advisor to Sheltering Grace Ministries, which provides housing and life skills training for homeless pregnant women, Daneea has also facilitated their orientation classes for program participants for more than six years.

Marquerite King, Daneea’s mother, is the founder of Single Parent Connection, Inc. (SPC), a non-profit organization which empowers single parents to elevate their lives.  As Program Director, Daneea has worked with her mother to design and implement educational programs which teach parents strategies for personal development, positive parenting, financial literacy and enhanced life skills.

 

Previously, Daneea has served as the Director of the Cobb County office of Travelers Aid, where she worked with as many as 1900 homeless families annually.   As the Chair of the Cobb Community Collaborative, she helped grow the organization to more than 100 non-profit organizations, who seek opportunities to work together to better meet the needs of Cobb county residents.  She has served on Cobb County’s Hospital Discharge Planning Committee, the Jails Discharge Planning and Re-entry Committee, and the Cobb Rent and Utility Taskforce.

In 2006, The Learning Channel’s reality TV series, THE MESSENGERS, crowned Daneea Badio, The Messenger and winner of the competition for America’s next great inspirational speaker!  In her spare time, Daneea continues her inspirational speaking at conferences, corporations, colleges, schools, churches, organizations and community events.

Actress, playwright, and published author of “Dictations of Conversations,” an intriguing collection of her original poetry, Daneea is also a proud alumnus of Tuskegee University (BS Marketing) and Southern New Hampshire University (MS Community Economic Development), a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and serves as Co-President of the Drama Ministry of Turner Chapel AME Church, in Marietta, Georgia.

Language Experience

by Ashley S. Kelly

When I was in college, I double-majored in political science and Russian. I thought I wanted to work in foreign relations, and it seemed like a good combination. During the summer following my junior year, I was scheduled to go to Russia to study abroad and work on my conversation skills. The study abroad program was cancelled due to political unrest, however, and I was not able to go.

After college, I ended up going to law school and becoming an attorney in Atlanta. My Russian language skills quickly faded from lack of use. Several years after I began practicing law, the attorney in the office next to mine began representing some Russian clients who were parties to a lawsuit here in the United States. Although he spoke some Russian, his assistant did not. One day, I could hear her speaking loudly to someone on the phone. I could tell that she was getting flustered and frustrated. It was the Russian clients, and my colleague was not in the office to take their call.

I took the phone from her and said (probably not properly, but the best I could muster): "Hello, my name is Ashley. I work with Mr. Hendrix. He is not here but will return later. He will call you." That was pretty much the full extent of our conversation. Afterwards, all I could do was to keep repeating a phrase that I had used often in Russian class: "I don't understand." I was afraid that they would be angry at my lack of ability. To the contrary, they were quite relieved, knowing that we would pass along their message and that they would be taken care of.

And that's been my experience whenever I have tried to speak another language -- whether it is Russian or broken high school French or rudimentary sign language -- people are usually grateful that I've made the effort, and they will work with me to make sure that my message gets across.

Food and Packaging Choices to Help Save Our Environment

by Jeanne M. Robinson

Have you ever thought that the way you eat can help improve our environment?

One way is to eat less meat. Livestock herds account for about 10% of all greenhouse gases, especially methane gas. Their ever-growing population is unsustainable to our earth. The waste produced is estimated at 13 billion tons and contributes to pollution of land, water and air. Runoff to our water supply is especially devastating. There are also local effects such as rainforest destruction in Central and South America. Does this mean you have to give up meat entirely? No, just cut back where you can. You could go meat-free at lunch or skip meat one or two dinners a week. If a lot of people did this, the demand for meat would decrease to help reduce affects to our environment. Also, there are health benefits to eating less meat. There are many ways to get protein besides meat.

Eating locally grown food also helps our environment. The average fresh food item on our dinner table travels 1,500 miles to get there. (source: Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture). Buying locally produced food eliminates the need for so much energy to transport the food and usually results in less packaging. The food is usually grown with less pesticides and is more tasty and nutritious.

And when you are purchasing your food, what kind of bag do you put it in? Plastic bags litter our soil and water. Many animals think floating plastic bags are food and die after trying to eat them. Plastic bags that end up in landfills may take up to 1,000 years to break down, and they separate into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate soil and water. Producing plastic bags consume millions of gallons of oil. Paper bag also have problems such as the number of trees required to produce them. What should you pick? Reusable shopping bags made of materials that don’t hurt the environment while being produced are the best option. If you still choose to use plastic or paper bags, be sure to re-use them for as long as possible and then recycle them.

And what about the packaging the food comes in? Look for the least amount of packaging and packaging that is biodegradable or recyclable. Less is more.

These are small steps but can have big impacts if we all do our part.

The Environment Needs YOU!

By Jacqueline Cook and Abigail Cook

Have you ever thought to yourself, “what can I do to save the environment…I’m just a kid!”? Well, if you have then today is your lucky day. The truth is that kids do more to change the world than they get credit for. But, it can seem overwhelming to both kids and adults to think about saving the environment because we just don’t know where to start. The best thing you can do is start small and, most importantly, make it fun! If you make it a game and get your whole family, neighborhood, or even school involved before you know it your small change will have multiplied into a giant change, and that’s how we will save our planet.
You may have already heard of the three R’s of the environment, but in case you haven’t they are “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”. Most people focus on recycling, which is great and very important, but what about reducing and reusing? They are just as important and, if done well, can help your family save money!

REDUCE – When you look around your house can you think of anything that you could reduce how much you and your family use each day? What about the obvious thing – food! Does your family throw away a lot of food? Maybe you buy too much at the grocery store and it goes bad before you can eat it, or maybe your family doesn’t like leftovers. Well, this would be a great place to start to get your whole family going Green.

Here’s what you do:

- Instead of letting food go bad, why not pick someone in your family to be responsible for checking the expiration dates on the food that could go bad, like dairy products. For example, if that person sees that the sour cream is going to go bad in a few days, that same person has to find a recipe that uses up all of the sour cream. It’s OK if your family doesn’t have a lot of cookbooks at home. There are all kinds of websites on the internet that you can use to look up recipes based on what kind of ingredients you want to use. Try www.allrecipes.com. Oh, and each week a different person should be responsible. It’s important that everyone gets a turn.

- Each time the family uses up the food before it goes bad, the whole family gets a reward. Decide as a family what that reward should be, and make it something good! For example, keep track of all the money your family saves by not wasting and they create a family fun jar and put all the money in there and watch it grow! Use the money to go on a family vacation, or to an amusement park, or to build a swing set in your backyard. The possibilities are endless!

- Have a family leftover night. One night each week gather all the leftovers in your refrigerator and make dinner with them. Make it a challenge with prizes. For example, if the family is able to use up half of the leftovers on Family Leftover Night then the family gets to play a board game together (let a different person pick the game each week). If the family uses up all the leftovers, the family gets to go to the park together! You can decide on whatever prizes work best for your family, but the point is to make it fun. Oh, and don’t forget – by eating up the leftovers you’re saving money again so put the savings in the family fun jar!

- Here’s one last really great and easy idea. Reduce how much water, electricity, and gas your family uses. When you brush your teeth, turn the water on only when you need to rinse off your toothbrush or get a drink of water. When you run your dishwasher, only run it when it’s full. When you leave a room, turn the lights off and try not to turn any lights on during the sunlight hours if possible. In the winter, think about wearing sweaters and slippers around your house so you can keep the heat setting as low as possible. In the summer, see if your family can stand setting the air conditioner just one degree warmer and try not to open doors too much. Get your family together and walk around your house and make a list of all of the ideas you can think of together for ways to conserve water, electricity, and gas. Then, have your parents keep track of their bills so everyone can see if their efforts are working. If they’re not working, see if you can try even more things. If they are, guess what? Your family just earned more money for the family fun jar!

REUSE – There are so many things you can reuse instead of throwing them away, and you can start doing all of these ideas today!

- Use the cloth sacs for grocery shopping instead of plastic bags.

- If you bring your lunch to school, pack it in a reusable lunch bag and try to use washable plastic food containers instead of plastic baggies.

- Donate all of your old clothes and toys to charity rather than throwing them out.

- Be creative and think about saving things you normally would throw away to be used in arts and crafts projects.

RECYCLE – And last but not least, let’s not forget about recycling! By now most cities and towns across the country are participating in recycling. If your family isn’t recycling yet it might be because you have to request recycling bins and service from your town’s waste disposal company or sanitation department. Have your parents call and find out. Here are some things you can do:

- Look at the items that you buy and try to buy things with recycled materials in them.

- If your home recycling bins don’t let you recycle plastic bags or other things, go online and research where you can recycle those things. Recycling at your home can reduce your trash by half, sometimes even more if you’re really good at it!

- Talk to the principal at your school and ask what the school is doing about recycling. If they’re not doing anything, or if they are doing a little but would like to do more, ask if your school can form an environmental action team made up of students, teachers, and parents to help the school get going on their recycling plans.
These are just a few ideas but the truth is that there are so many things you can do to help planet Earth if you take the time to look around where you live and be creative. Keep it simple in the beginning and start with one goal you know you can reach, then keep expanding and doing a little more until before you know it your family fun jar is completely full and the three R’s of the environment are just a regular part of how your family lives. Also, for more ideas check out the web. A few good websites are:

http://greenguideforkids.blogspot.com/

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/recycle.htm

Good luck, and thank you for joining the cause!

Meet Molly and Velvet

By Ada Demlow, Children’s Librarian and Empathy Educator

There is nothing like a good story to help you imagine yourself in another time or place. That is why stories are so important in building a peaceful world. What better way to imagine standing in someone else’s shoes than through a story. Through the lens of a good story we can see ourselves, and others, a little better.

As a children’s librarian and empathy educator, I see over and over the power stories have to sow kindness and grow peace. Two stories I have used many times feature a couple of spunky characters that are both fun to meet and have a lot to teach us about the importance of being ourselves. Neither Molly nor Velvet try to “be like” everyone else to get accepted. Instead they stay true to themselves and discover that “being me” is the best thing to be!

Go to your local library and check these out! (Or get a copy of your own, because I bet you will want to read them again and again!)

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon
by Patty Lovell

Even though she had a voice like a “bullfrog”, Molly Lou Melon’s grandma has always told her to “Sing out clear and strong and the world will cry tears of joy.” A grandma like that helps Molly to be a pretty confident child, but this is put to the test when she is forced to move away to a new town and faces a new school with a bully named Ronald Durkin. Molly stays true to herself, and is not only able to make new friends; she actually is able to make peace with Ronald.

This story is wonderful on many levels. First and foremost, it shows the absolute importance of believing in yourself, and staying true to your ideals. However, it also shows kids that just because you have a conflict with someone, it doesn’t mean that you have to be their enemy forever, things can and do change. Finally, it shows the importance that family plays in building peace and confidence in children. Molly’s relationship with her grandmother is pivotal to her ability to be self-confident and manage conflicts with her peers.

The story and illustrations in this book are very well-done, making it a great choice for reading aloud.

Odd Velvet
by Mary Whitcomb

On the first day of school, while the other children bring the teacher cinnamon tea and potpourri, Velvet offers "an egg carton filled with seven rocks, her favorite red shoelaces, and a half a sparrow's egg." This begins her classmates belief that Velvet is “odd”. It doesn’t stop there. Velvet does many things that make her peers wonder just where it is she came from.

Just like Molly Lou Melon, Velvet does not let her new kid or “different” status deter her from being true to herself. Like Molly she uses her gifts and talents and true self to show the kids what is inside of her. Slowly, but surely they start to see more than just an “odd girl”, but rather someone unique and pretty special.

This story takes on the additional element of the dreaded birthday party invitations.
Despite not being given the best hospitality, Velvet invites her classmates to her birthday party, and they accept the invitation and come. It is this party that really helps them start to look at Velvet in new ways and this shows kids that sometimes, even when it is difficult, you have to take the risk and invite people into your life rather than waiting for them to come on their own.

BE ME

by Stephen Costen

This month we will focus on one of the Peace Center’s four concepts. That concept is to “BE ME - discover the wonder and beauty within, were peace begins. Explore emotions, feelings, learn self-esteem, and use your talents and uniqueness.” It seems to me that the key here is to find the peace within.

Let’s begin our journey with the definition of exactly what peace is. The word peace encompasses a whole range of meanings, so let us narrow down our search for the meaning of inner peace or peace of mind, the kind that pertains to us on a personal level. For that there are three pertinent definitions- (1) state of tranquility or quiet: (2) freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts: (3) harmony in personal relations. The main idea that pops out at me when I read these definitions is that peace results from a particular state of mind. In other words, it is not something that we can receive from other people or that we can buy from a peace store. It is something that we accomplish by the way we think. It is the absence of conflict in our mind. It is important to note that external conflict is not related to peace of mind. Indeed external conflict is necessary for our inner growth.

By facing outside challenges and solving them in a calm and peaceful manner we practice cultivating our inner peace. How awesome it is to know that with the troubles, we can also have peace as well. Peace of mind! But we have to work to make it happen, it doesn’t just fall into our laps. Okay, now that we see what we are looking for, the next question becomes; how do we achieve it? Having a belief that the power of love and forgiveness will overcome any negative thoughts is a first step. Also, realizing that anything that brings conflict into our lives is just a temporary condition and by taking charge of our situation and our way of thinking in a positive manner will bring harmony in our lives. HARMONY = PEACE! With the knowledge that no matter what happens in this life, we can control our own inner peace simply through the use of positive thoughts and self-talking makes the problems of the world seem insignificant and therefore powerless to perturb us. This is not to say this is an easy thing to do. It takes much practice, determination, and willpower in order to change our way of thinking. The practice of meditation is one great way to still the disturbances of the mind. It allows us to block out all of the outside noise from a chaotic world and find the calming, soothing voice of our inner guide . Another practice that will allow us to experience inner peace is to make it a habit to forgive others when they do you harm. By forgiving the actions of others you are not condoning what they do, but you are saying no matter what you do I still love you. It is impossible to feel hate and conflict if you truly have love in your heart for your fellow man. The chief obstacle that stands in our way of doing this is pride. This is the main obstacle that make us the most vulnerable to attack, misbehaviors, and insults”, in other words, all the things that take away our peace of mind. When we think about it doesn’t most of our conflict with others come from having our pride hurt? Learn to forgive! You will be amazed at how that simple act will unshackle your mind and soul to bring you peace.

I hope that these thoughts will inspire you to act. Only when we are truthfully at peace within ourselves can our true potential shine forth. With the power of peace, the world is ours!