Spinning Yarn

A friend of my father's was a polymer chemist in America.  But, I first knew him only as the man who gifted my brother and me with subscriptions to the National Geographic for two years.  He became even more of a favorite gift-giver when we each received a set of pencils with our names engraved on them.  (Those pencils did not write well on the paper that we used; we soon put those pencils away in favor of locally-made Nataraj pencils!)

When he ("RV" as he was called) visited with us for a day in Neyveli, he brought with him in a Ziplock bag (the first time I saw one) a sample of fiber that he had extruded from basalt rock.  Fiber from a rock!  I was blown away.  He said that it could have wide-ranging applications from fiberglass to fire protection.

His visit happened about the time when polyester shirts were all the rage in India.  Oh boy, did we boys love to wear polyester shirts with bell bottom pants!  Later in the chemistry class when we learnt about polymers, and how polyester is a classic example polymer, RV's research became a tad more understandable.

It has been decades since I have worn a polyester shirt.  But, as one who has helped students think about the role of plastics in our lives, I know well that we use polyester in our clothing, though not as polyester shirts.  "Performance-driven innovations made polyester better for everyday wear: softer, more comfortable, more durable, less likely to hold odor, and less obviously synthetic."

Progress is certainly a double-edged sword.  Descriptions of how the Kalapuya kept themselves warm and dry on this land do not appeal to me.  I shudder to think of dealing with the wet and cold conditions here in Eugene without the warm comfort that the synthetic materials with cotton provide me, whether it is the thermal underwear, or the fleece sweater, or the cold weather jacket. 

Polyester makes it possible to clothe a world population of nearly 8 billion people at a much lower toll on land and water than cotton or wool would exact. And it’s practically free – an important factor in places like India, where the per capita income is less than $2,000 a year. ‘We have also to remember’, says Pingani, ‘that sustainability means that we should allow the poor people to get to buy a shirt without spending a fortune’. 

We aren’t going back to a world without polyester. The challenge is to find the best ways to go forward.

If we do not want to live like how our great-grandparents lived, leave alone how the Kalahari bushmen live even now, then we will have to incorporate various kinds of synthetics. 

My father, like many in his time, went to school barefoot through the first few grades of elementary school.  Now, even in Sengottai and Pattamadai, it is practically impossible to see a child attend school without the appropriate clothes and footwear.  The backpacks that the kids carry seem to cover their entire bodies, and heavier than the kids themselves.  Plastics like polyester and nylon make possible the clothes, shoes, backpacks, pens, raincoats, umbrellas, and more.  We do not ever want to return to "the good old days" when children went to school with bare feet, and we certainly do not want people to be unclothed or suffering in the cold and wet weather. 

Squaring such a circle will require us to think beyond sound bites and bumper stickers.  Are we ready for this task?

About the photograph: I wish the photographer had included all the way down to our shoes too.  We would then have seen the bell bottoms in all their glory!  The shirt that I am wearing in the photo is all synthetic.  As Mark Twain phrased it, none of us smile because "A photograph is a most important document, and there is nothing more damning to go down to posterity than a silly, foolish smile caught and fixed forever." ;)