Presentation Castleisland second year student, Bláithin McElligott has been announced as first prize winner of €300 in the images section of a competition, run by the Columbian Missionary Society in Britain and in Ireland.
The competition, for secondary students nationwide, was based on the title ‘Anyone Can Make a Difference‘ where students were asked to consider who in the world today is doing something about inequality, injustice, exclusion and environmental degradation?
Judges Impressed
Bláithin impressed judges with her artwork and excellent power point presentation which highlighted the cost of fast fashion, the second largest consumer of water in the world with textile dyeing being the world’s largest polluter.
One of the judges, William Scholes commented that ‘Bláithin’s informative entry made an impact with its imaginative presentation and thoughtful examination of the issues around ‘fast fashion.’
80 Billion Items of Clothing
Bláithin’s research highlighted that 80 billion items of clothing are manufactured each year.
“It allows consumers to buy more but we’re wearing the items less often and disposing of them at an unprecedented rate,” she said.
“So how do we in Pres make a difference? We have installed a Clothes Pod which collects, recycles and send clothes to developing countries.
“The clothes were weighed and proceeds collected from Green-schools have been sent to the water charity ‘WaterAid‘ so that countries like Malawi, Uganda, Ethiopia etc can have access to clean water.
No Access to Clean Water
“We‘re already on our second collection! Over 785m people do not have access to clean water and 200 children die every hour due to unsafe and contaminated water,”
Bláithin has raised awareness further in the school about fast fashion and suggests that instead of choosing to buy from fast fashion brands, we should buy clothes that are well made from reliable suppliers.
“We should view clothes as an investment rather than a replacement and this is key to stopping this harmful trend,” she said.
You can contact The Maine Valley Post on… Anyone in The Maine Valley Post catchment area who would like to send us news and captioned photographs for inclusion can send them to: jreidy@mainevalleypost.com Queries about advertising and any other matters regarding The Maine Valley Post can also be sent to that address or just ring: 087 23 59 467.
