What are the environmental issues of growing cotton?
Most people are unaware of the effect of mass cotton production on the environment-how it is grown, how it is harvested-and very few will pause to wonder whether child labour is used, or whose pockets are lined with such exploitation. But now most of us are aware that the world faces an environmental crisis, even threatening human survival, with water shortages, global warming and worldwide nitrogen pollution- the main cause of this latter problem being the increased use of artificial fertiliser to boost crop growth. Although cotton was grown without the use of chemicals for most of its known four thousand year history growing cotton in the modern way is second only to coffee for destructive elements on the environment. Cotton farming consumes more pesticides than any other crop in the world and the majority are highly toxic. Cotton uses only 3% of global farmland but 25% of the world’s synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Cotton farming is especially dangerous in Africa, poisoning up
