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

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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

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