This Post is TOXIC
It has been a wild few weeks. I’ve transitioned out of my full time role at the University of Pittsburgh to focus more fully on Conscious Costume and living a sustainable life. I feel privileged to have the (financial and emotional) support of my partner, Michael. He encouraged me to explore this path more fully now that we have the financial cushion to allow a little bit more freedom. It is truly my hope that Conscious Costume gets to a point this year where Emma (our rentals manager) can work more hours and I can start taking a small stipend again. I have not taken any pay for CC since winter 2022!
All that said, if there’s something you want to see more of here on the patreon, please let me know! Your support makes all of this possible month after month!
Last week, I was fortunate to attend the Ecoscenography book club discussion on the book To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion is Making us Sick -- And How We Can Fight Back.
I encourage you to read this important book about the state of chemical additives in the growing, dying, finishing, and more of our garments! Even if you don’t work in costume, you wear clothes (I assume!) so this is good for everyone to know. Please note, if you use the affiliate link above, CC does get a small kickback but I also encourage you to look for this book at your local library (that’s where I got mine). For me, reading the book brought up an ABUNDANCE of anxieties that I typically push back into a rarely visited, dusty corner of my brain.
That said, the discussion was excellent and inspiring, here are a few of my takeaways:
Washing makes a difference! Be sure to wash your clothes before you wear them, and before you give them to a performer to wear.
Dry cleaning is incredibly harmful, look for alternatives. A unique approach to killing odor causing bacteria in clothing is actually to freeze it!
The word “biobased” DOES NOT mean non-toxic.
If you are in conversations with producers about how adjust the budget to purchase from less harmful brands, you could try citing the health of the performers or the organization’s mission statement as a negotiation tactic.
Here are some links from the conversation that you might find interesting:
Feeling fired up after reading all that? I’m hoping to start ending these posts with little action items that anyone can easily do!
For today, did you know that lead in water is not limited to Flint but up to 22 MILLION Americans could be drinking tap water from lead pipes? The EPA is updating regulations to help eliminate lead in our water pipes, read more and send a letter of support here.
Have a terrific week and do something that will make your descendants proud!
