What is the carbon footprint of a single regular tee shirt?

Answer 1

Carbon footprint is a number telling you the amount of carbon emitted in the growing, harvesting, production and transport of the item in question, here a t-shirt.

It is impossible to give an answer for all t-shirts, as there will be many different possibilities.

* Cotton needs a lot of water. Was the cotton grown in a country where there was plenty of water available? * What happened to the bushes after the cotton was harvested? Were they burnt in the field or in a biofuel plant? Were they put back into the soil as fertilizer?

* Did the cotton need a lot of fertilizer and pesticide? Were these organic or manufactured? * How far was the cotton transported from crop to mill? How was it moved? * What sort of energy was used to spin the cotton and produce the t-shirt? * How much packaging was used to package the t-shirt? Was it plastic or paper?

* How was the t-shirt transported from factory to shop? How much fossil fuel was used for its transport? How many miles did it travel? * How did it travel after you bought it? Did it go in your own vehicle? Powered by fossil fuel (gasoline)? * How often do you wash it? Do you always use a full load in the washing machine? Do you use hot or cold water? Do you use biodegradable washing powder?