How we live our lives matter. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that a person generates 2.95 tonnes of waste per year; by changing our consumer behaviours we can work towards changing that figure. It’s the small, everyday actions that greatly impact our world. While we all have different priorities and capabilities, altering one daily habit or behaviour can affect change. Using a reusable take away cup makes a difference – while it may feel like you aren’t making a dint to reduce global waste, if one million people partake in this small habit, that constitutes for large scale impact.
Managing our consumer behaviour is important, particularly when it comes to the clothes we wear daily. Responsibly designed and manufactured merchandise has become a focus for us when we think about our impact as a business. This limited-edition t shirt is crafted from 100% organic cotton: a considered choice. Organic crops are non-GMO and grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, which in turn creates healthier soils that can retain more water throughout floods and droughts alike. Organic cotton generally comes from small scale farms who use green water (rainwater) and rain fed systems to water crops, using 91% less blue water than regular cotton farms. This matters because it takes 2,700 litres of water to produce a single cotton t shirt. Organic cotton isn’t perfect – transportation methods, and emissions still contribute to impact – but opting for it is a step toward more sustainable actions, because together we grow.
Our commitment as a university is to foster, inform and provide opportunities for our students to make an impact through their careers. No act of service is too small. We see this shirt as an investment, and a statement. We wanted to create a design that you can take throughout your life – a design that is functional and durable, one that carries a message, and that sparks conversations; a shirt that holds that 100-year-old calling, ‘for a greater vision of world needs’. Our design features a graphic of the Pine Forest in the Watagans National Park on the back, and our campaign slogan ‘Together we grow’ on the front. This is a limited run of sustainable merch, and for transparency not all our merchandise has been sourced in the same way. We’re not perfect but we are working towards more conscious options.
Growth is possible, and it’s easier together.