If you have known me long, you know I have enjoyed going to Austin for SXSW the last few years. It is a conference where people come from all areas of culture and talks about what matters to them and they think should matter to the rest of the planet. I’m sure you see how cotton deserves a spot on the SXSW stage!
I really do love the beautiful crop and the fabrics and oils, etc that come from it. And when a fellow blogger saw how I regularly put my love of cotton online, she told me she worked with people in developing countries who produce cotton textiles and loved it too. Someone else had been asking me about SXSW, and next thing I knew we were talking about whether or not the two of us should get a panel together. Fast forward to August and we need your help to make cotton get to the SXSW stage.
This video will give you an idea of what we would like to get in front of the SXSW crowd:
We have invited other perspectives to join us as we talk about the full life-cycle of cotton from growing the plant to sewing the fabric into products we use like sheets and what happens to them after. Thinking about the impacts the crop has on our small towns and rural landscapes here in the US as well as the small towns and big cities globally where the textiles are made into the clothes and home goods that we can enjoy for years.
We put a lot of work into the proposal and the process at SXSW includes getting support from the community to show the idea would draw attendees. This is where you come in because whether you have attended before, think you may go sometime or simply think others attending should hear about the sustainability of cotton, you can help us by voting and commenting on the page SXSW launched today. There are a few steps:
Sign in or create a login & password at panelpicker.sxsw.com August 6 – August 30, 2019.- Check out the SXSW web page for From Grow to Sew: Exploring Cotton’s Journey panel.
- After reading the summary & watching the video, look for the button that says “vote up” in the top left.
- Cast your vote & feel free to leave a comment about an area of the topic you are interested in, things you’d like to know, etc.
- Browse some of the other panels if you have a bit of time. You can search by keywords or see some great ones friends and colleagues submitted on a wide range of food & farm topics like climate smart agriculture, soil health and food waste and others on broader cultural topics like misinformation and analytics.
If you have submitted an idea or find other awesome talks submitted for SXSW 2019 that you think I’d like to know about, please drop links in the comments. I have been putting together a list of the various panels I think should make it that I will share soon.
(Confession: some of this originally appeared on my LinkedIn profile, and this would be far more exciting than when I talked about haters on social media there ).
