this post tells the link between environmental degradation and our purchasing habits.
if we are india lot of times we go to walmart or sears or target or jc penny, etc to shop for cheap garments, shirts, pants, jeans, etc. if we are india, we go to the malls looking for the deals.

we always look for rock bottom prices even shrinking our eyebrows if the price is a few rupees or few dollars more.

this behaviour of cheap consumerism is taking a toll on environment in distant land such as tirupur. tirupur is india's main textile area. but it is heavily polluted area with severe pollution problem affecting tens of thousands of acres of fertile farmland.

do you know that orathapalayam dam is the only dam in which the entire effulents is stored. it was a dam built on noyyal river to store river water but has ended up storing effulents fully that farmers do not want the dam to be opened!!!
(orathapalayam dam: picture copyright of hindu)

(untreated effulents being let into the pichaikkaranpallam odai: picture copyright of hindu)

despite lot of time frame given, the textile manufacturers of tirupur has not installed full effulent treatment system and they have stopped production as they are not able to pay the fine also imposed by the courts.

whereas the effulents in the nearby erode area where dyeing is a major business is rowing merrily by leaving effulents untreated to the odai which joins cauvery and the article quotes,

"The Odai joins the River Cauvery, the water of which is used for drinking in Erode, Namakkal, Karur, Trichirapalli and other districts. "

so now what's the connection between we hunting for cheap goods and the pollution in tirupur?

one of the major connection is that we are driving down the prices by hunting for super bargains putting direct pressure on retailers who in turn pressure the garment manufacturers at the ground level to give goods at a cheap price ('or else we will go to china' will be the common threat) and the garment production units throw all labour and environmental rules/laws to dust.

by insisting that we shop for eco-friendly labels, environment friendly shops - even though the cost can be a bit high - we can pass a stern message to all concerned that our development need not come at cost of lakhs of other people like the farmers of tirupur region.