The title is not about salad dressing. It is about our clothing and climate change. Polyester is a popular fabric which has been around for decades, so we don't give it much thought. But Polyester is a petroleum product. There is a reason why it is particularly bad for burn victims if they are wearing polyester - it melts into the skin like a plastic bag would rather than burning like cotton or wool would.
But if we are trying to fight climate change and we are helping, unwittingly, to create more uses for petroleum then we are also unwittingly contributing to climate change. Unfortunately, getting off of Polyester is harder than you might think. Because of the tendency of Americans to be overweight more and more garments are made with spandex in them (another form of polyester). Bluejeans which were originally 100% cotton are now a heavy mix of spandex. In fact most clothing is now a mix of fabrics - it is hard to get items that are a 100% anything (Well Polyester does tend to still be 100%).
In a spirit of full disclosure it is also worth noting that non-organic cotton has horrible chemicals added to it in processing, as well as pesticides while growing. Cotton is also a water intensive crop. Even bamboo or hemp clothing can have environmentally destructive chemicals added to them in the processing.
So this winds up like the many other dilemmas before us right now with climate change - choosing the lesser of evils For example EV's use less petroleum but have other conflict minerals in them. Any food you buy can be produced with toxic chemicals or not, but labeling can be deceptive, and we wind up in a bit of a research project to try to be consumers for social and environmental justice until such time as our society is organized with these concerns in mind.
Yet societies change in response to the demands of the consumers. Several decades ago we demanded the end of aerosols and DDT and those things went away. When we understand the issues around Polyester we have to make responsible consumer choices and try to effect change despite the fact that it will not be easy.
Early Friends wore black and white and grey. They did this because the dyeing process was carcinogenic and grossly shortened the lives of the people who did dyeing. It was a social justice issue. They also did not wear lace which they said was a vanity and thus taking us away from God.
What if we again said we would dress for social justice? If we said we would not wear clothes that contribute to the dying of the planet?
