Yesterday I read about Sim Sweatshop. I like a challenge. How would I do as a worker in a sweatshop–beyond that of my own making, of course? Not so well. The game is made to help you lose. That is the point. If you are a visual learner, try playing Sim Sweatshop. This is a digital art piece commissioned by a growing arts festival in Nottingham (England). At each difficult choice you have to make (Do I join a union? Do I buy shoes for my own child?), there is a background story from labor reports.

Put that together with an article on Wal-Mart this past week, and I’ve been grinding away on the idea of fair labor for the masses. Is it possible? Is fair labor clothing already available around the corner? Are Behind the Label and the Clean Clothes Campaign soon to be obsolete? Not so fast. Hold on to your greenback dollars if you plan to buy green.

Dave Robert’s article last week on TomPaine.org reported on the Wal-Mart CEO’s speech to employees last October on greening the company. Even the Rocky Mountain Institute is helping them green their trucking fleet.

One thing that bothered me about organic standards when I first joined the Organic Trade Association (OTA) was the lack of social standards to match the environmental standards of the USDA program. National Organic Program only covers food, though, and cotton is only certified organic under this program because cotton seeds and cottonseed oil are used in food products. Only on the level of agriculture is cotton currently certified organic.

There are several organic textile standards in the world that cover every stage from agriculture through processing, and discussions are advanced to adopt an international standard to harmonize all of the existing standards. The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which will be adopted by OTA, will allow certified products to cross freely into markets around the world. The best thing about GOTS, as far as I am concerned, is the adoption of the adoption of the base code of conduct for trade.

Back to Wal-Mart. I already knew that Wal-Mart has become the biggest single buyer of organic cotton in the world, but I realized the Wal-Mart CEO isn’t a treehugger. I hadn’t read about the CEO-to-employee speech before, though, so I was curious to know what impact this commitment to organics would have on their notorious lack of concern for fair labor in production as well as in store.

It must have been interesting to employees to hear their big boss talk about all of the good Wal-Mart was doing in the world, anticipating what this would mean for them. Will they be paid a fair wage? Will they get health care? “Even slight overall adjustments to wages eliminate our thin profit margin.” Oh. So, is that a no?

How odd is that? If Wal-Mart’s clothing is to be certified under GOTS as it is adopted by the Organic Trade Association and other world certifying bodies, their agriculture and processing will have to follow GOTS minimum social criteria. Producers of Wal-Mart clothing will have the right to collective bargaining and living wages, among other promises. But the sales people in the store will still lack living wage and health care.

Where do you draw the boundaries of sustainability? If you are going to buy organic, make sure your whole supply chain is committed to the environmental and social standards that implies in at least a minimally convincing way. Better yet, by from the small stores committed to whole sustainable communities.

When new parents weigh their diapering options, they often find cloth vs. disposable articles telling them there is little or no difference in their choice. You have all seen these simplistic comparison lists in simplistic parenting mags. So have I. On what do they base their analysis? Studies funded or sponsored by manufacturers of throwaway petro-chemical diapers. How the numbers play out in the analysis depends on how you draw the boundaries of the question. Use the least energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly methods of cloth diapering, and you will shift the numbers. Pretend that cloth diapers are changed 12 times a day and disposables only 3 times a day, and you will shift the numbers. If you shift enough numbers, you can make those numbers show that the lowest possible impact one-time use diapers can be compared to the highest possible impact reusable diapers. The outcomes are determined by framing the original assumptions.

Let’s reframe our assumptions. Let’s assume that you as a cloth diapering parent want to make the most environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient choices. Drop out of the high-impact discussion altogether and figure out how to make your cloth diapers a better choice. Organic cotton reduces the impact of chemicals from field through factory when compared to conventional cotton, so you buy organic baby diapers. Don’t stop with that one choice, though. How are the diapers made? How do you buy? How do you wash the diapers? Every step of the way you can reduce the impact of your choice.

Home laundering can require more energy than commercial laundering (diaper service). A story I saw this week tells me that our impact can be lowered with this step, too.

Fuel Costs Drive Coin Laundry into Sun-Energy Vanguard
July 31, 2006 — By Michael Tarm, Associated Press

World’s Largest Laundromat outside of Chicago uses 36 10-by-4-foot solar panels to power the 24-hour laundry. The place is huge. They have 153 washers and 148 dryers. If the story ended there, it would be a simple profile, but it goes on to explain how, why, and when they use solar power.

I pulled the story from Environmenal News Network, but this AP story is making the news rounds of big and small media in the past few days–including business papers and sites. Isn’t that interesting? If it isn’t interesting yet, let me help you get interested.

Owner Tom Benson made this choice not because it was best for the environment but because it lowered his energy costs. The lower environmental impact in this case is also better for the bottom line of the business. This is why business papers and websites are all over the story. “This happens to be one of these wonderful cases where the idea works on every level,” he said.

The implications of this are huge. Could this not influence diaper services to not only lower their costs but gain attention for better environmental choices by using solar energy to power their laundry services? Would you be willing to lower the impact of your cloth diapering impact by using solar power? Do you do it already? My family wasn’t in a position when washing diapers to switch to solar power, but I think selling diaper services on solar power is doable. Solar power for laundry is a smart business decision.

My partner, the Dye Master, suggests that all the World’s Largest Laundromat needs to do now is add a Living Machine outside to recycle the water. (Read about Living Machines at Wikipedia.) You know there will always be more steps we can take to lower our impact.

Don’t panic. One step at a time.