Martika Ornella
Harlem stories, Caribbean narratives, and nascent journalism.
Civic Technology 101
Colin-Pierre Larnerd
316
- My community encompasses pretty much everyone (as I’m sadly realizing), since the success of sustainable/ethical fashion depends on consumers’ commitment to it. This means asking a lot of people if or could they buy ethically — if not, why not? Asking the silent majority (lol) these type questions makes it easier to report back to my micro-community (designers and manufactures) on the ways they could ensure their ethical supply meets popular demand.
- Ethical/sustainable fashion is sort of scary. It’s usually expensive, basic, hard to find, and again, expensive. So bringing together a massive community of consumers, with a smaller manufacturing community will be about demystifying some of misconceptions people have about the fashion industry. The main one being that fashion is in fact an industry, and it impacts the globe in a number of significant ways. Like, did you know textile waste is the second biggest global polluter behind oil?
- I think Hearken has already helped me connect with the larger group of my community. Consumers ask practical questions — “why isn’t there a greater used clothing market in the US?” “Where can I buy ethically?” These are simple questions that require difficult answers, but the core of civil tech is knowing where your answers (as a journalist) should begin.
