Does someone with a pronounced environmental awareness harm nature less than someone who doesn't care so much about the climate impact of their own textile consumption?
Researchers from several international universities, including scientists from Giessen's Justus Liebig University, have been investigating this question.
Her finding: There is a gap between aspiration and reality.
Accordingly, an environmentally friendly attitude and the actual ecological footprint are not necessarily related, as the Central Hessian university reports.
Thorsten Winter
Business editor and internet coordinator in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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According to the study, textile purchases cause about two to three percent of the world's pollutant emissions and serious local environmental damage.
At the same time, people with greater environmental awareness purchase comparatively fewer items of clothing.
Consequences for purchasing behavior
In fact, the scientists have even found the opposite: A climate-friendly motivation is at least partially related to a higher number of T-shirts and jeans purchased, the authors of the article in the journal "Nature Sustainability" wrote.
People with higher incomes are more sensitive to environmental issues than people with less money in their wallets.
"Since more clothing is consumed in these layers, the good intentions have no concrete impact on the climate and environment," it continues.
Previous studies on changes in consumer behavior have therefore hardly dealt with the actual environmental effects, but have concentrated on attitudes and motivations.
The team led by Wencke Gwozdz from the Professorship for Supply and Consumption Research in Gießen, on the other hand, is interested in the consequences of basic attitudes for personal purchasing behavior.