Industrial and textile production methods must rapidly evolve to preserve the contribution made by plant roots in the ground and increase global vegetation cover. Hence, when you put on an item of clothing it is important to be aware that millions of hectares of forest are destroyed and that the capacity of the ground to store carbon is being diminished and lost on a global level.

As has been quite rightfully pointed out by Henri Leridonet and Ghislain de Marsily, members of the French Academy of Science, commenting on the subject of ecological engineering: ‘We must act immediately, with greater urgency, and combine it with a change of mental attitudes.

We need to radically change our methods of consumption, including those relating to clothing; otherwise, Homo sapiens may well end up destroying every ecosystem on the Earth—the miracle of life in the universe.

These institutions and professionals focus on highly advanced philosophical questions such as: ‘What is the nature of black matter and black energy, which account for 95% of the content of our universe? How does our brain—a complex system of interconnected neurons—give rise to our mind and consciousness?’

By handing power to the industrial groups, the citizens have prevented themselves from taking the initiative. Small shops are closing down, firms are consolidated as each company buys out others, and this has resulted in a world of extreme hierarchies and profitability.

One cannot gain an understanding of ecology exclusively through ecologists, because people who are not involved in ecology also have an opinion on the issue. Amadou Hampâté Bâ wrote: ‘If you think the same thing I think, you are my brother. If you think differently from what I think, you are twice my brother! Because then you will enrich me with your difference’.

I want to remind individuals that it is they who decide and that they must take back the power to act that was taken away by a system that thinks and decides for us. For it is the act of buying that determines what is made and how clothes are made, and each person is responsible for his/her present and future life.

Il faudrait, avant tout, que nous connaissions mieux cette nature. Les tribus aborigènes, comme les Amérindiens ont toujours eu conscience du fait que la planète Terre leur offrait tout ce dont ils avaient besoin pour respirer, se protéger, se soigner, s’émerveiller et rester connectés à leurs racines.

‘Humans eat “human” food’. The same applies to our clothing choices: ‘humans wear “human” clothes’. But what is the ideal diet for humans? And what is the best way for men and women to dress, when you consider the critical question of survival and aesthetics?

Once the weight of one kilogram is attained, it is important to realise that the production of this one kilogram will have required at least thirty-six times more land and water than to produce one kilogram of plant-based clothing.