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- UD officially acquires Chrysler property in Newark
- Piepalooza shows McNair spirit of community giving
- Fashion and Apparel Studies chair honored by Apparel Magazine
- 'Shakespeare First' attracts overflow crowd
- UD professor, alumnus help lead Vanderbilt death penalty debate program
- United Way campaign concludes with contributions topping $196,000
- UD launches Center for Political Communication
- Education professor inducted into Laureate Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi
- UD awarded funds for cyberinfrastructure development
- UD figure skaters excel at Eastern Sectionals
- Princeton anthropologist addresses human language and art in Darwin lecture
- Violinist Xiang Gao to lead China tour in June
- Delaware art history grad student honored for best paper
- MSERC programs in math education receive continued funding
- UD Library Associates elects officers for 2010
- Richards to return to faculty in College of Health Sciences
- UD Police seek information about injured student
- For the Record, Nov. 20, 2009
- UD in the News, Nov. 20, 2009
- UD planning teachers institute in cooperation with Yale National Initiative
- PCS, Academy of Lifelong Learning receive award
- Record 334 students receive General Honors Awards
- Vaughan elected interim president of national education organization
- Lambda Chi Alpha completes annual food drive
- Second Life Outsider art show seen a success
- Dec. 2: Former RNC chairperson Ed Gillespie to speak
- UD Collegiate Figure Skating Team wins Cornell competition
- UD students tour CIA headquarters
- Interdisciplinary Humanities Research Center established
- UD hosts annual Delaware Space Grant Research Symposium
- UD ranks among top institutions in study abroad
- UD's second hydrogen fuel cell bus carries special guests
- Junior Chefs Rockfish Cook-Off accepting entries
- More News >>
- Dec. 2: Former RNC chairperson Ed Gillespie to speak
- Nov. 30-Dec. 4: College School schedules book fair
- Dec. 1: LGBT community to mark World AIDS Day
- Dec. 3: Center plans Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration
- Dec. 6: New Castle County Alumni Club plans Winterthur holiday event
- Dec. 6: UD alumni events planned in Baltimore, Philadelphia
- Dec. 6: 'Jams for Jimmy' benefit concert to be held in Wilmington
- Dec. 7: Black Student Union to present program on racial stereotypes
- Dec. 12: Blue Hens men's basketball team plans toy drive
- May 7: Phi Kappa Phi plans ceremony
- Oct. 11-Nov. 29: International Film Series offered Sundays at Trabant
- Sept. 9-Dec. 2: 'Assessing Obama' series to feature faculty, national speakers
- Sept. 9-Dec. 2: 'Research on Women' fall lecture series announced
- Sept. 18-Dec. 18: Library's 'Lion Awakes' exhibition looks at reggae, Marley
- Sept. 26-May 1: Take in an opera at the Met with UD matinee tickets
- More What's Happening >>
- UD calendar >>
- Nov. 24 is final enrollment day for Flexible Spending Accounts
- Jan. 6, 28: Employee Nights at UD basketball games set
- Changes ahead for recognition of student honors
- Bicyclists, motorists need to watch out for one another
- Nominations sought for Redding Award recognizing campus diversity efforts
- Nov. 30: Chemical hygiene, lab safety survey deadline
- Princeton Review announces student survey
- UD's Winter Faculty Institute kicks off Jan. 5
- State offers UD faculty, staff free health risk assessment
- Upgrade to Windows 7 available for UD students
- More Campus FYI >>
5:11 p.m., Oct. 24, 2008----Coral Rose, a member of the University of Delaware's Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies Advisory Board and a recognized strategist, eco-educator and speaker on the subject of sustainable textiles and the practical application of sustainability to business, gave a talk about sustainability and how to balance commercial sales with ecologically friendly products in the Trabant University Center on Tuesday evening, Oct. 21.
Rose spoke about the importance of finding out what is environmentally practical for one's business, as well as for one's products, stressing that it is necessary to know where the sources for raw materials originate.
“The first questions that the designer of sustainable products have to ask are, 'What's the source of our raw material? Where is it coming from? Is it degrading an environment?'”
Rose went on to give an example that gained noteriety about six months ago of a company that was illegally harvesting wood and degrading the environment of Siberian tigers in Russia. This wood was then used to create cribs that were sold by major American retailers.
Another focus of the talk was on bamboo, which Rose said “is considered sustainable, it grows very fast. But the issue with bamboo is that right now we don't know where bamboo is coming from. There is zero supply-chain transparency.”
The lack of supply-chain transparency is alarming,she said, because much of the bamboo that is harvested is taken directly from the habitats of pandas.
Rose said that it is important for companies to use sustainable clothing products not just for environmental reasons, but for economic reasons, as well.
Using Wal-Mart as an example, Rose showed how they saved $2.4 million a year in shipping costs and a million barrels of oil simply by eliminating excess packaging on small toys. They also generated $28 million in revenue by selling recycled plastics.
“Sustainability is good for business, and companies are either saving money or making money and this is the reason that they are thrilled about it in this time of high energy costs,” Rose said.
For more information, visit Rose's blog at [http://coralrose.typepad.com].
Article by Adam Thomas
Photo by Tyler Jacobson