The school bell rings, you’re excited to finally be out after a long day of grammar and worst of all fractions.  As excited as you are that school is over for today, you’re secretly excited about going back tomorrow and seeing all your friends.  But today is going to be different, the president declared all schools closed and all students are to support their country’s economy by picking cotton 12 hours a day 6 days a week.  Now you’re out in the burning sun all day, three of your friends have already gotten sick, you don’t know why, but you pray you’re not next.  You’re sweaty, tired, and aching all over worst of all it’s getting harder to breathe everyday.  How did this happen, just weeks ago you were a normal kid in school.  You wake up in a cold sweat, it was just a dream, you’re in America, that doesn’t happen here. You're pulling your shirt over your head when you think, could what I buy change someones life? Really?

Conventionally grown cotton (non-organic cotton) uses more than 10% of the world’s pesticides and 25% of the world’s insecticides.

Fact 2:

Many of the chemicals used are classified as carcinogenic.

Fact 3:

In rural India, often times farmers can't read so safety measures are forgotten -- workers use and mix chemicals with bare hands and often over-apply the stuff. Bad for the crops, worse for the workers.

Fact 4:

Those working in fields producing conventional cotton lack any of the protective labor laws we require here in the U.S. There are no caps on the number of allowable work hours nor is there an enforced age requirement to work around these chemicals.

Fact 5:

Handling such massive amounts of toxic chemicals brings tremendous risk of developing diseases like cancer, asthma, and increasing the number of birth defects. 

Instead of using toxic chemicals to ward off insects and pests, other methods are used, like predatory bugs to eat the others that infest cotton crops.

Fact 2:

Workers are paid fair wages and treated properly by their employers

Fact 3:

Organic farming rotates the land they farm on. This prevents overuse of the soil, giving it time to regenerate.

Fact 4:

Not surprisingly, those chemicals used in conventional farming methods are not just bad for our bodies, but bad for the environment. Keeping them out of the farming process also keeps them out of our soil and away from wildlife.

Fact 5:

Even the machinery used to process organic cotton is made of recycled plastics or aluminum, making the entire process green and clean.

Fact 6:

In India, some farmers have created effective organic "fertilizers" using garlic, chili, neem, and even cow manure! Now THAT mixture keeps pests away!

Fact 7:

Organic cotton is handpicked, which means there's less waste than there is when machines pick from the crop. 

Fact 8:

Organic cotton is dyed with natural oils, without formaldehyde, anti-wrinkle agents, and other harmful chemicals.  

Pick Your Cotton Carefully

      In recent years we’ve been assaulted with information about different abuses of power in foreign countries, especially throughout Africa and Asia, and it’s no secret that money is often the driving reason behind these atrocities. We all know commodities like gold, diamonds, and land are motivators because of their tremendous monetary value, but what if cotton was too? Yes, cotton! Some of the least expensive material from which clothing and other goods can be made, is one of the most dangerous things to harvest and you need to know why.