The world watched as US voters went to the polls on Tuesday, and the outcome is not what most people in the sustainability sphere was hoping for.
A second Trump administration is likely going to mean dark times for many around the world, for climate change and for global diplomacy writ large. In the face of what’s at stake, individual efforts can seem futile. But when it comes to protection of the planet and the most vulnerable on it, the higher the stakes, the more necessary the work.
Here, we asked some of the voices most dedicated to sustainability and inclusivity in or adjacent to fashion to answer the question that many people are grappling with this week: “Why bother?”
Responses have been condensed and edited for clarity.
Willow Defebaugh, co-founder and editor-in-chief of non-profit media organisation Atmos
We don’t get to give up. Giving up is a privilege. It assumes that there is another choice for this planet. The United States is responsible, cumulatively, for more emissions than any other country in history — and that is only going to worsen under Trump.
We owe it to the rest of the world to continue doing everything we can to protect as much as we can. I think of not only humanity, but of the countless species that have unfurled from the tree of life who are threatened by climate change and ecocide as much as, if not more, than we are. We owe it to each other, and we also owe it to them.
Ayesha Barenblat, founder and CEO of Remake
I am reminded of 2020, a time that was also dark and we were grappling with a growing global pandemic. At that time, our Remake community and labour allies rose to the challenge — running #PayUp, the most successful fashion campaign in our industry’s history, and then went on to pass SB62 [the California bill that established a minimum wage for garment workers and joint liability for wage theft].
Whenever it is dark, there is always light. With us now facing uncertainty in the regulatory landscape, a dial back in climate commitments and looming tariff wars, we have no choice but to fight back. We rose before and we will again — through centring worker voices, collective organising, leaning into our joyful community that is fuelled by solidarity, and building a just and equitable fashion industry and world.
Ken Pucker, professor of the practice at Tufts University’s Fletcher School
The global shift to populism is harrowing, especially as a parent whose generation contributed to the circumstances now left to our children. This makes the imperative of the work of sustainability and justice more daunting and more vital. So, it continues apace.
Three reminders: state rule change can have national and pan-national impact (see the New York Fashion Act as but one example). Progress in China and India is more fundamental to progress than the work in the US. And, to quote George Orwell, “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” So, back to work.
Pattie Gonia, drag queen and environmental activist
When we feel hopeless, let’s not forget that inaction is an active choice. Doing nothing is doing something. Action works. Do not disengage.
When faced with “why bother?”, I’m not afforded the opportunity to not bother. My identity as a queer person and my role as a drag queen don’t allow me that privilege and with what privilege I have as a white, cis person, I’m using that privilege as an opportunity to take more action especially for trans youth. Let’s never forget, we’ve been here before, and what’s gotten us through time and time again is community and love.
Don’t let someone who can’t change their nature for the better, be the reason you change yours for the worse. If we give up hope for our planet, they win. They’ve taken so much, and I won’t let them have my hope, too.
Brittany Sierra, founder and CEO of the Sustainable Fashion Forum
There’s a lot at stake, and the future is uncertain, but there’s always been a lot at stake for me and the future has always been uncertain. There’s always been a fight — whether I wanted to be in it or not, whether I felt equipped to handle it or not. And yet, I’ve always found a way forward — not because I wasn’t exhausted or in need of a lifeline, but because I couldn’t stop to dwell on those feelings.
This is just yet another time I have to keep going. My work will continue to focus on connecting individuals across industry silos and equipping professionals with the tools and insights needed to navigate shifting consumer mindsets and adapt with purpose. In times like these, building a community of resilience and shared purpose feels more important than ever. My energy will be channelled into what I can build, change and inspire — even when the path feels uncertain, because for me, it always has been.
Leah Thomas, environmental activist who goes by ‘Green Girl Leah’
I feel a lot of solidarity within my community of Black women, who are pretty consistent when it comes to showing up for progress regardless of where the rest of the world stands. I feel up for the task, and even more motivated to keep going because when extremism rises, so does the counterculture that always wins in the end.
I feel really sad, on the other hand, and am going to pivot my work in the coming years. Clearly, a lot of people did not resonate with the core message on the left — we’ve seen a huge fracturing over the last year, and I want to find a world where leftists, progressives and liberals can work together even if we have different theories of change.
Isaias Hernandez, environmentalist and storyteller who goes by ‘QueerBrownVegan’
I feel defeated, but I reference historical movements of resistance that have dealt with horrific injustices. More than ever before, I am grounded in evidence-based hope. Not just wishful thinking of hoping and praying things will get better, but remembering that there are solutions, people and organisations working day and night to ensure a safe future.
It’s never been a headline, logo or data that moved me — it’s been people who tell stories that move me. And that is what we need now: a new era of storytellers that will dispel doom, rewrite narratives of bloom, and provide us solutions as we continue to build power in our communities.
Maxine Bédat, executive director of the New Standard Institute
I am not facing a “why bother?” mindset. We do not exist in a win or lose binary, we live in an ever-evolving ecosystem and there are still critical levers to advance our collective work both on an individual state level and outside of the United States. Don’t forget a state like New York has the 10th largest economy in the world, California has the fifth.
I’m personally reflecting and trying to learn what has driven the majority of Americans to get behind such a different vision. Only if we can take some learnings from that can we drive majority coalitions for a future in which we can all thrive.
Rebecca Burgess, founder and director of Fibershed
I’m more than ever committed to rebuilding racially inclusive cooperatively owned value networks for fibre and food systems that direct profits to workers and those at the base of the value chain. This whole move to the right in our country (Dems as centrists and Republicans as fascists), has been driven by extremely wealthy corporate political organising efforts.
We pay the price politically for wealth inequality and the concept of whiteness, which continues to propel Trumpism at an unconscionable scale. We are a country built on systemically racist policies that, by and large, we refuse to just look at in the face.
Restoring ecosystem function (our soils), totally reforming racist policies and rebuilding rural prosperity (centred in ecosystem restoration and a new circular bio-economy) — these are the cornerstones of resiliency. This is the slow and steady inroad towards collective liberation. [I have] a strong sense that we are going to only become stronger and clearer from this mess.
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