#MoveTheDate
3
Days
Energy consumption could be reduced by 10% if everyone dressed more appropriately for climate, moving the date of Earth Overshoot Day by 3 days.
What is the solution?
Change dress codes and clothing habits so less energy is needed to heat and cool buildings. Model and encourage climate-appropriate dress codes. More suitable clothing allows people to live and work comfortably in cooler buildings in the winter, and warmer ones in the summer.
This solution improves our resource security in the energy category.
How does it #MoveTheDate?
Heating and cooling requirements make up a significant portion of a building’s energy consumption. Dressing in climate appropriate clothing helps us stay comfortable at a range of temperatures and reduces the need for indoor climate control.
How is it scalable?
With cheap energy and vast improvements in climate control of buildings, fashion largely ignores that clothing’s main function has historically been to help us regulate our temperature. There is still a large gap between what people typically wear, and what would be most climatically appropriate.
What is the solution?
Change dress codes and clothing habits so less energy is needed to heat and cool buildings. Model and encourage climate-appropriate dress codes. More suitable clothing allows people to live and work comfortably in cooler buildings in the winter, and warmer ones in the summer.
This solution improves our resource security in the energy category.
How does it #MoveTheDate?
Heating and cooling requirements make up a significant portion of a building’s energy consumption. Dressing in climate appropriate clothing helps us stay comfortable at a range of temperatures and reduces the need for indoor climate control.
How is it scalable?
With cheap energy and vast improvements in climate control of buildings, fashion largely ignores that clothing’s main function has historically been to help us regulate our temperature. There is still a large gap between what people typically wear, and what would be most climatically appropriate.
Image Credit: Children’s Bureau Centennial via Flickr
Clothes are deeply personal and cultural. Due to the psychological pressure of wanting to fit in, and implicit or explicit dress codes, what we wear is often a reflection of the society we live in rather than the climate outside.
There are powerful stories of attempts to make dress codes more climate appropriate, with failures and successes. One of the most famous examples in the US is President Carter’s role-modeling by turning down the thermostat and putting on a cardigan. This was an attempt to encourage Americans to reduce their energy consumption as the first oil crisis hit the world economy. The effectiveness of Carter’s symbolism is still debated.
Japan led the shift in dress codes for hot climates. The country’s “Cool Biz” campaign launched in 2005 and was amplified in 2011 following the Fukushima-induced electricity shortage. The campaign has made a measurable difference in energy usage.
Interestingly, when researching the fashion industry’s reaction to climate change, most discussion focuses on the sourcing of their materials and barely any on the climate-appropriateness of the fashion they push. We can give clothing a longer life, but how do we encourage effective outfits rather than inefficient heating and cooling?
One solution is to regulate the wastefulness of heating and cooling. For instance, France has started to ban outside heating and cooling, in the face of ever more popular outdoor heaters in restaurant gardens and terraces. But even the climate-friendly Paris mayor was reluctant to embrace the policy as she feared economic hardship for local restaurants and cafés, 75% of which have outdoor heaters.
There’s no benefit in waiting!
Acting now puts you at a strategic advantage in a world increasingly defined by ecological overshoot. Countless solutions exist that #MoveTheDate. They’re creative, economically viable, and ready to deploy at scale. With them, we can make ourselves more resilient and #MoveTheDate of Earth Overshoot Day. If we move the date 6 days each year, humanity can be out of overshoot before 2050.