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7/28/2019 Vivienne Westwood, eco pioneer: interview, Marie Claire
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Queen of punk, creator of some of
the worlds most beautiul couture,
grande dame o British eccentricity
and, now, an eco-pioneer. Dame
Vivienne Westwood is a lady o seri-
ous convictions, using her profle and her brand as
a platorm to spark debate over the issues she cares
about. Here, she tells Marie Claire why climate
change matters, what it means to live a greener
lie, and how we can all make that happen.
What rst made you aware of climate change?
For many years, Ive been upset about the act that
logging companies have been chopping down the
Brazilian jungle and the rainorests o the world.
Then, about our years ago, I read an interview
with the British scientist, environmentalist and
uturologist James Lovelock, whose Gaia theory is,
in my opinion, as important as that o Darwins.
James chose the name so that we would think
o the earth as a person: Gaia, the earth mother.
According to him, its going to get so hot within one
or two generations that nearly all the earth willbe uninhabitable or human beings.
Consider a simple act: I am a tree, and what
do I give out? I give out oxygen, which humans
need to breathe. And what do I eed on? I eed on
CO2
(carbon dioxide). And through light, I make
something solid carbohydrates, which humans
live on. So why are we, humans, so intent on
destroying the thing that gives us lie?
As a fashion designer, what changes would you
make in your business?
The irst thing Ive been doing is promoting
the idea o do it yoursel . Make your own T-shirt
by putting a picture in a plastic sleeve and pinning
it on. Whatever!
What youre saying is in conict with the whole
of the fashion industry, which exists to make us
consume more and more.
What Im really saying is, buy less and choose well.
I would like quality rather than quantity. I dont
believe growth is OK i it means one mans advantage
is another mans disadvantage. I try to concentrate
on quality clothing and accessories that are worth
having, and to get my people to take less trips by
air and stay longer each time they travel. Its more
human, especially i they take time to visit an art
gallery while there.
For every design I do, my people work to develop
it or other lines. Although I hate all that stu, to stay
healthy, all companies must expand. Nearly every-
one in ashion is on a train, producing too much stu,
but thats the way business works.But you are a part of that fashion train. Dont
you have the power to stop it?
The only thing I have the power to do is to
close my business down, but Ive never seriously
considered it. I people bought ewer clothes and
made better choices, they would start to under-
stand value or money. Im lucky to be able to
borrow lots o clothes rom my own {continued}
buy less& choosewell
More than a fashion designer extraordinaire, VivienneWestwood is an eco pioneer on a mission to save the world
7/28/2019 Vivienne Westwood, eco pioneer: interview, Marie Claire
2/2
RainfoRest special
collections, but I still wear clothes rom
ten years ago. When I ind something
I adore, I wear it over and over again.
So, to ght global warming, your
advice is to consume differently?
Yes. We could ly less, use less petrol.Apparently one o the most efcient ways
[to save energy] would be to change our
diet. Paul McCartney has started a Meat
Free Monday campaign and this could
make an amazing dierence.
If James Lovelock was in the room with
us now, what do you think hed say?
Lovelock hoped humans would evolve
into something more wonderul. The
history o the human race is punctuated
by our cleverness: we create one inven-
tion ater the other. There was a antastic
programme with the British Museum on
BBC Radio 4 recently calledA History ofthe World in 100 Objects. One o the frst
programmes in the series was about
the stone hand axe, which people used
or cutting meat, chopping wood, digging
or deending themselves against animals.
Those axes are 2 million years old.
So there were people like us 2 million
years ago. The human species is not just
a little blip in the history o evolution.
So, seriously, what can we do?
Id like to do a TV series called Get a Life!
Firstly, it would be about making sure we
have a world thats habitable or uture
generations. Secondly, Id ask: How dowe make the most o our lives right now?
To get a lie, people should go to galleries,
listen to music, go to the theatre Every
time you read a book, you do something
that develops your world view. Culture
gives you this incredible anchor to lie as
well as pleasure. Every time I look up
a word in the dictionary, I get a real sense
o satisaction at learning something.
Lets leave on an up note: individuals
can make a difference. So, one last
word from you
Your time is precious, so dont just sit
around and suck things up. Invest inthings, fght or something. My motto is,
You get out what you put in. s
Visit activeresistance.co.uk/getalife
to read blogs, keep up to date with
Viviennes latest news and watch
videos produced to inspire young
people to invest in culture.
ForestsSAve LIveS
One quarter o all Westernmedicines contain ingredientsderived rom rainorests.
According to the US National CancerInstitute, the worlds orests are
home to about 2,000 plant speciesused in anti-cancer medication.
Rainorests play a major role in absorbing carbon dioxide(CO2). Our planets vegetation absorbs 123 billion tonnes
o CO2
rom the atmosphere every year, according to
a ten-year study by the Max Planck Institute, Germany.
Do hamburgers destroy
trees? Global population
has tripled in the past 60
years, while meat consumption has
increased fve-old. This means an
area o orest the size o three ootba
pitches is destroyed every minute
to raise cattle and grow their eed.
Corporate giantsincluding Unilever,McDonalds and
Nestl have all cancelled
contracts with rainorest-destroying suppliers asa result o pressure romGreenpeace campaigns.
More than 300
million people
live in forest
areas. Campaigns
by Greenpeace and
Cool Earth have
helped tribes like the
Deni Indians securetheir territory
3.5 million hectares in
the Brazilian Amazon.Download Of Fores
and Men, a beautif
free short lm by
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
(goodplanet.org) with t
Yves Rocher Foundation
It was screened at the
UN Headquarters in
New York to launch theInternational Year of
Forests, last February.
Why preserving rainforests is essential
CompiledbyKatieBree.
PhotographbyGettyImages/natioalGeographic
For more icons of style, seemarieclaire.co.uk/fashion