Upcycling

I am a Textiles and Merchandising major which means I learn A LOT about textiles. Most of the time when I tell people my major they get this confused look on their face and have no idea what I'm talking about or what kind of job I plan on doing with it. The textile industry is HUGE and makes billions and billions of dollars every year. Think about where your sitting right now. The chair your sitting on needed fabric and fibers to make the cushion and cover, the carpet that chair is sitting on is made from fibers, the clothes you're wearing, the rug, that lamps shade, and on and on. One of my classes this semester is "Textiles and the Environment". So far we've been mostly focusing on eco-friendly stuff in general, not as specific in the textiles aspect of things, but we're starting to get into textiles. Did you know that it takes 10,000 liters to make a pair of jeans? And anywhere from 2000-3000 liters to make a t-shirt. Making textiles is a major process. Once I learn more I would like to start posting more on tips for being eco-friendly, we all have a part to play in being nicer to our environment and there's lots of little things we can do. In the meantime, I recently watched this clip on the Nate Berkus website (he's fabulous). It's all about "upcycling". Donating clothes is a fantastic thing but there are so many ways to re-use fabrics that keeps them out of the landfill. Why don't you take that old sweater and make some mittens? Or use those old t-shirts for a quilt? Here's the link for the clip that gives some really great ideas on recycling what you have around the house. (I really love the sweater seat cushion)
http://www.thenateshow.com/videos/detail/3838/upcycling