I love fashion, and it turns out, fashion is the biggest pollutant of our planet, after oil. How heavy is the cost of wearing beautiful clothes, and how long can we remain ignorant or act like it doesn’t matter to us?

If one values life—I care about the people around me, I care about animals (and hence am a vegetarian and wear vegan)—then one must understand, acknowledge, and attempt to change what is wrong with the fashion industry. As Barack Obama said: “We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it.”

Our era is defined as the Anthropocene and, according to Johan Rockstrom of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, we have only 50 years to make the changes needed to ensure our wellbeing on earth for the next 10,000 years. While we collect material goods as markers of progress and as a legacy, if we don’t make a change in our consumption patterns starting now, there won’t be a planet to leave to our kids.

While creating a sustainable planet has many angles and agendas, one of the concerns is consumption and waste. We are living in the economy of excess and if we learn frugality, perhaps we stand a chance of saving the planet.

A writer may dip into any of the agendas; my aim is to bring about change through magazine and news articles, to inform and educate and to draw people into the conversation of change.

I also want to be the change, so I am aiming for a more sustainable lifestyle and wardrobe and would like to engage those in my circle of influence in this lifestyle shift.