I read an article in the Edmonton Journal last year detailing the amount of water needed to produce a pair of blue jeans (something like 70 liters). In looking for the article, I found a number of other links that add to the concern anyone would have regarding the destruction of local ecosystems and the environment because of our consumer habits.
This article explains how making blue jeans requires water to dye the jeans and the resulting ‘tailings pond’ or tailing creek that gives any viewer pause regarding the blueness that water should and should not be:
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=06-P13-00038&segmentID=8
In another article, a similar analysis of how we get our fashion fix– it seems that we mortals are not the only ones who suffer from for being beautiful: http://www1.umn.edu/ships/ethics/jeans.htm
How do we make the connection between what we purchase and consume, and the infrastructure needed to produce, move, and sell any one consumer item? When a bird or frog or animal requires water, they behave with instinct and need. If we don´t provide an environment that is adequate for their needs too, we must inevitably take responsibility for the deaths of millions of animals. Every day, over 100 species of plant and animal become extinct. How long can this reduction in the value of genetic diversity take place? Can human life exist with all other life on Earth reduced to a few species?