Click. Read. Love. 2.22.26

We’ve had an unusually cold and snowy winter here in Vermont. It’s the most consistent snowpack Vermont has seen in 22 years, and the coldest winter in over 15 years. It’s a winter that 30 years ago, would have been normal. The other day, someone said every big snowfall feels like seeing one of the last dinosaurs and damn that hit hard.

I’ve been doing a deep dive on fashion newsletters recently (for an upcoming piece on affiliate links). Having been out of the influencing industry for over 2 years now, I am still astonished by the continued prevalence and normalization of over-consumption.

What does any of that have to do with a snowy, cold Vermont winter? Everything. As I’ve written before, the fashion industry churns out billions of tons of waste to meet consumer demand. It is one of the biggest contributors to global carbon emissions, and climate change.

I’m starting to wonder when we’re going to reckon with the fact that we bear some responsibility here. It’s true corporations and governments are overwhelmingly contributing to the climate crisis. It is also true that we knowingly participate in and normalize a culture of over-consumption and instant gratification. The average consumer buys 60 percent more than they did in 2000, and keeps it half as long. The average fashion newsletter has 30+ affiliate links to “must-haves” and “faves.”

Lately, influencers have been touting their donations of affiliate link revenue as what can only be described as a distraction from the reality that they are very much part of the problem. Seriously, what are we doing here?

I’m utterly exhausted by the argument that any criticism directed towards this is anti-feminist, jealousy, or just being a meany. What’s anti-feminist is the fact that 80% of our clothing is made by young women between the ages of 18 and 24, and they suffer from exploitation, abuse, low wages, and forced labor.

While people living in the Global South suffer from soil, water, and air pollution because of the sheer volume of textile dumping from the Global North, the fashion and influencer industries continue to churn out endless products and links. Our survival doesn’t rely on endless consumption, but theirs does.

The lack of accountability and self-reflection within the influencer and fashion industry has become increasingly apparent. What it will take for us to collectively realize participation in this system is tied to our own self-destruction?

I’m not preaching about this from a pedestal. I benefitted from being part of the system for over a decade. I saw how easy it is to convince yourself you’re not part of the problem. I’ll spend the the rest of my life trying to undo the damage I’ve done.

It’s too soon to know if this will be the final snowy and cold Vermont winter of our lifetime. If it is, it won’t be because we didn’t know better. It will be because we did, and kept adding to cart anyway.

Welcome to my weekly newsletter Click. Read. Love. which goes out to subscribers on Sunday mornings. It has all the best things I’ve discovered throughout the week. Enjoy!