Danger Of A Single Story
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In 2009 the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave a fabulous TED talk called “The Danger of a Single Story,” – a moving piece about what happens when complex human beings and situations are reduced to a single narrative: when Africans, for example, are treated solely as pitiable poor, starving victims with flies on their faces. Her point was that each individual life contains a heterogeneous compilation of stories. If you reduce people to one, you’re taking away their humanity. She ended her talk by saying this, “That when we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.” Personally, I feel the exact same way about sustainable fashion and why it needs to be representative. The eco-warriors of our generation (a title I identify with) do not all look the same or share the same story, but I do believe that the compilation and acknowledgement of our varied efforts, backgrounds and stories can make a difference.

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