Jeans Infographic

This is a storytelling graphic depicting the supply chain of denim jeans as viewed through the sustainability principles of The Natural Step Framework.

It illustrates the four system conditions of the NSF, which state:

To become a sustainable society we must …

1. eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of substances extracted from the Earth’s crust (for example, heavy metals and fossil fuels)

2. eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of chemicals and compounds produced by society (for example, dioxins, PCBs, and DDT)

3. eliminate our contribution to the progressive physical degradation and destruction of nature and natural processes (for example, over harvesting forests and paving over critical wildlife habitat); and

4. eliminate our contribution to conditions that undermine people’s capacity to meet their basic human needs (for example, unsafe working conditions and not enough pay to live on).

These system principles are represented by what I refer to as system condition “short” names:

1. Take

2. Make

3. Break

4. Needs