Although Bangladesh garment factories have been slow to celebrate this day across-the-board, the 2024 iteration marks the beginning of a new wave of embrace for the environment.
Unlike previous years, in 2024, ETI had opted for a “laissez-faire” approach for World Environment Day, enabling factories to utilise their own creativity and accumulated knowledge to commemorate the day as they saw fit. This resulted in dynamic and interesting outcomes from factories.
Although factories utilised the usual tried-and-tested practices such as worker rallies, PA announcements, leaflet distributions and tree plantation ceremonies, the enthusiasm and active roles played by workers, or their representatives nuanced this year’s celebration. This may be testament to growing consciousness amongst workers, even if the concept of environmental sustainability is yet to be mainstreamed.
What felt most refreshing to see was the explicit address of irony in our lived practices, not just by the upper management but from worker representatives. However easy it may be to suggest cutting down less trees, saving tap water, using fewer plastics—empty recommendations such as these disbursed from the top management can only create so much tactile difference.
Utilising the connection of our own micro practices within this equation and pin-pointing the ways our “minor” daily activities may lead to major issues for us all, humanised and imprinted the seriousness of the climate change and environmental sustainability issue. Workers using their own examples of certain wasteful practices within the workplace, drove this message forward. This was aptly summarised by one worker committee member who stated, “We may think this is an external issue, but mother nature does not let us go, nature returns the favour by taking revenge. Look at the cyclone we just had. Look at how hot the weather is.”
The effort in research and understanding put in by factory top-management was also a much-welcomed novelty. This time around, the team at ETI alongside worker representatives and other staff present, were enlightened by certain startling statistics. One such information was the fact that 70% of the world’s total oxygen comes from sea moss . This trivia fact was followed by the concern on what would happen to our oxygen supplies if we were to continue polluting our oceans with plastic and killing off the seaweed. The opportunity to learn from factory management and listening to lived experiences from workers, compared to ETI disseminating knowledge to them, marks a new era for garment factories in the battle to save our environment.
Interestingly, the most commendable aspect of this year’s environment day visit was not within factory walls. Though worker rallies are an expected tradition, this year’s rallies led by certain factories went beyond factory walls and expanded to their nearby community—which was most definitely unexpected. Certain factories offered leaflets on the relevant issues to locals who resided outside the factories, in some cases, even stopping nearby auto-rickshaws to hand both driver and passenger the leaflets. Other factory rallies went so far as to provide their local community members with litter bins to encourage proper waste disposal.
Our worldwide ecosystem is a careful architecture of interconnectedness and balance. Every action has a ripple effect. This year’s celebration was testament to that sentiment. Workers rallying across the nearby streets wearing uniformed t-shirts- while that may have been an elaborate show, this was a necessary attraction to capture the eyes of curious locals. Holding the leaflets or baskets in their hands, both children and elderly vendors-alike questioned the meaning behind the festivities with piqued intrigue. One vendor asked, “Miss, what is this? What is written here? Can you summarise for me?” In response to which, I connected our natural disasters and increasing heat to environmental sustainability and climate change. This visibly lit up the vendor, and they showcased eagerness to read the pamphlet, stating, “Oh, really? Then I will read it!”
Albeit still small in scale, the embers of a growing consciousness were very apparent this year within workers, management and even the local communities. Utilisation of some eye-catching demonstrations or clickbait examples may seem miniscule to some, but before any large-scale change, these small events may have the power to plant the little seeds required. Hence, even though environmental awareness needs to be a subconscious presence in all our minds, a single day dedicated to its celebration may be the perfect tool to garner growing collective awareness and eagerness within workers, management and locals alike.
World Environment Day 2024 beautifully showcases the progress made by RMG factories. Diffusing the celebratory responsibilities equally between managers and worker representatives and ensuring workers themselves voice their own understandings made this year’s celebration feel truly “communal”.
ETI Bangladesh is hopeful that these little interventions will slowly bloom into even more nuanced and refreshing interpretations within the RMG industry, which can help educate even our team and many others within the sector and encourage them to curate even more creative activities.
- Priyong Sabastini, Programme Officer
Information available in: Heather Kramp: Seaweed is about to blow your climate change mind | California Sea Grant (ucsd.edu)
