Climate Justice and Fashion Activism
Agree or disagree:
“lululemon's model is to buy relationships but they can't build relationships. That's why they're so afraid.”
-Erdene at Stand.Earth
About Erdene
In September Community Hour, we met Erdene Batzorig, a settler on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations also known as Vancouver, BC.
Growing up in Mongolia and Vancouver, Erdene has lived through the stark differences of climate change in both of those places, which has been the driving force for her work in climate organizing.
Erdene currently works as a digital campaigner at Stand.earth pushing fashion corporations to decarbonize their supply chain and on securing protections for the Amazon rainforest.
Growing up in Mongolia
Erdene was gracious enough to share about the conditions while growing up in Mongolia. She shared leading with this, "my origin story about when I was a little demon in Mongolia". 😈
She shared how the temperatures get down to minus 30 or minus 40 degrees and how people actively live in yurts and overall, it's a situation rife with classism and poverty.
Her experience growing up included waking up in the cold mornings and the windows of her family home were covered in black soot. She remembers finger painting figures into the coal laden windows.
Her parents cautioned her from spending too much time outside where there was a gray haze lingering throughout the whole winter and they even said "Don't breathe in too much". 💔
Erdene considers herself lucky to have moved to Canada cleared of the major respiratory issues that Mongolians are tested for when they immigrate to Canada.
Joining the Climate Movement
Erdene then shared that she later joined the climate justice movement, which seemed so aligned. However, she mentioned that in the movement she didn't feel represented as a person of color, which continues to be a consideration in her work.
In our time together, Erdene impressed upon us that even just sitting together for one hour is an effort that can have a positive impact in climate change. It was a response when some of the attendees shared the feelings of overwhelm when thinking how to enact change against a rapidly increasing global issue.
lululemon-ish
Other points we considered while in community were around lululemon and they very real negative impact on the Global South. We discussed how the life cycle of their athleisure goods starts in the global south with they manufacturing and production and ends in the global south in landfills of excess and discarded product.
The people in the west only interact with a piece of the supply chain, and believe that lululemon's philanthropic giving washes out the negative impact on both ends of the life cycle of their products. It does not.
Read more on this from the articles Erdene provided about the conditions in Vietnam where over 30% of lululemon's items are manufactured:
Record breaking heat in Vietnam
Children in Vietnam, Philippines face high climate risk
More lululemon-ish
We talked about how pollution caused by lululemon impacts those of us with family and ancestral ties to those in countries where these athleisure products are produced. #racebased and #ethnicbased stress and harm
We talked about how the dominant culture of wellness is meted out by white women, but actually controlled by cis-hetero white men who prey on the insecurities of white women, perpetuating the stronghold that patriarchy has on all of us. See 8 outrageous remarks by lululemon Founder Chip Wilson.
We talked about their doomed philanthropic giving loop that only benefits yoga teachers and local communities when the company is meeting or exceeding sales targets, if not, funding is pulled leaving our yoga initiatives SOL.
We talked about many of the company's harmful behaviors.
Actions you can take
Sign this open letter for lululemon to #quitcoal immediately
Text the open letter to 10 friends/chat groups with the option to include the below message:
Hi! I just asked lululemon to commit to immediately phase out coal and source 100 percent renewable energy. Can you support this initiative with your signature?
Additionally, share this call for re-consideration to lululemon ambassador/yoga teachers in your network.
How to access the Community Hour replay
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