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Alden Wicker

@aldenwicker.bsky.social
172 followers 245 following 29 posts

Freelance journalist || Author of To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick – and How We Can Fight Back (PRH) || EcoCult on Substack. || Southern VT <> NYC || aldenwicker.com

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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
A commenter says: "That was awesome! Not only for researching an existing brand, but what to do if I want to make sure my own has the right parameters. Thank you!" ecocult.substack.com/p/how-to-ass...
ecocult.substack.com
How to Assess a Brand for Toxicity
So many brands claiming they're sustainable, so little time!
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
The reason why parents realized that their kids were being lead-poisoned by tainted apple sauce pouches was because of the work of a federally-funded network of CDC offices. All the employees in that lead detection and prevention program have been fired. www.eenews.net/articles/mil...
eenews.net
Milwaukee faces lead crisis without CDC experts RFK Jr. fired
"The people who were answering our questions are just gone,” City Health Commissioner Michael Totoraitis said in an interview after the firings Tuesday at
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
This is bad. The Trump administration is trying to overrule all the state-level bans on PFAS. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Trump officials quietly move to reverse bans on toxic ‘forever chemicals’
EPA bids to change chemical risk evaluations, which could expose public to higher levels of PFAS and other pollutants
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
If you're not testing it, it's got about a 37% chance of being toxic. Especially promotional products. open.substack.com/pub/ecocult/...
open.substack.com
That Free Swag Bag Is Toxic
"We're in such a murky, dirty world of promotional products."
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Out: Capsule wardrobes. In: dressing in community.
ecocult.substack.com
What if Our Fashion Was Based in Community?
Capsule wardrobes are dumb. Community-rooted wardrobes, however...
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
And yet, dermatologists won't tell you this.
ecocult.substack.com
Babe, Your Body Acne Is From Your Plastic Clothing
I mean, it's obvious once you think about it, right? But science backs this up.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Don't roll your eyes at the California warning labels. Turns out, they're protecting you from toxic chemicals. ecocult.substack.com/p/hey-looks-...
ecocult.substack.com
Hey, Looks Like Like Those California Cancer Labels Are Working
Turns out companies don't like telling customers that their products have carcinogens and reproductive toxins.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
But, womp, Customs physically cannot carry this out. There are 2 million individual packages coming in every day from China. So, the effect will be slow.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
In "I gotta give it to him" news, after Biden tried and failed, Trump finally closed the de minimus loophole that allowed Shein and Temu to dump toxic products on Americans and undercut quality brands. sourcingjournal.com/topics/trade...
sourcingjournal.com
Trump Took on De Minimis. But Will It Stick?
Trump's executive order exacted new duties on China, and prevents the country's e-commerce players from utilizing the duty-free trade provision.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
A new study shows 50% more microplastics in brains in 2024 than in 2016. "The scientists also examined the brains of 12 deceased patients diagnosed with dementia, and found that they had three to five times more microplastics than normal brains." www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
In a first, scientists find microplastics are building up deep in our brains
A new study shows that microplastics are making their way into our brains, and that their numbers are rising.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Trump gagging the EPA and threatening to fire its employees is really going to Make America Healthy Again. How is RFK going to take down pesticide makers without any support from the pesticide regulation agency? www.govexec.com/workforce/20...
govexec.com
EPA employees told to pause most external communications and cancel meetings with outside parties
The agency joins several across government at which the Trump administration has issued at least a partial gag order. An agency spokesperson has denied that a pause is in place.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
What in the AI slop garbage is THIS. www.journee-mondiale.com/en/i-tried-m...
journee-mondiale.com
Melania Trump's Eco-Friendly Winter Fashion Tips | Sustainable
Discover how Melania Trump's approach to sustainability can inspire eco-friendly fashion choices for winter 2025. Learn about luxurious yet sustainable style tips, digital sustainability in fashion, a...
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Americans across the political spectrum agree that there are far too many toxins in our food, air, water, and homes. So here's how Trump has already made America Healthy Again in the past week....
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Maladroithe @maladroithe.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
It is damn near impossible to grow 100% of a balanced diet on your own and unthinkable if you don’t have a lick of experience. You wanna cut down your produce bills w a couple raised beds, maybe learn to can? Sure. You want to opt entirely out of the preexisting food system? Lol. Lmao. Enjoy scurvy.
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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
This is such great news. For so long Amazon has had a chokehold on ebooks. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/b...
nytimes.com
Indie Bookstores Will Soon Be Able to Sell E-Books
Bookshop, a site that lets independent, bricks-and-mortar bookshops sell their books online, is launching an app that will allow the sales of e-books, too.
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Jessica Goldstein @jessicagolds.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
"Customers only care about one thing: barely functioning AI crammed into every facet of their lives... Doesn’t that sound fun? Just living in a constant state of fear that all of the information you have access to is anywhere from a little to very wrong?" www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/our...
mcsweeneys.net
Our Customers Demand Terrible AI Systems
We’ve been banging our heads against the wall, trying to think of the new “it” thing our customers want. At one point, somebody suggested improving...
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Just because we don't want to waste all the apples from the old trees everywhere! "New England states top list for fruit and vegetable intake. 64%+ of adults consume fruits daily (led by Vermont at 66%), 84%+ eat vegetables daily (led by Maine at nearly 87%)." www.traceone.com/resources/pl...
traceone.com
U.S. States With the Healthiest Diets
To determine the U.S. states with the healthiest diets, researchers created a composite index based on 10 key food and health factors.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
At least five different companies have created a synthetic fiber with an additive that makes it break down in the presence of bacteria. But no large brand is using them. Something is up. open.substack.com/pub/ecocult/...
open.substack.com
"Biodegradable" Polyesters: Are They For Real?
An update: I was a little bit too gullible before.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 26/01/2025
Hear me out: you take the hard-won products of journalism, science, art and creativity, you use vast amounts of electrical energy during a time-sensitive energy transition to re-jumble the words and sentences, and then you present the outputs as being better and more trustworthy than the original
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Land and Climate Review @landclimate.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
"Anything under 5% of a textile's weight doesn't need to be listed—enough to hide carcinogenic or reproductive toxic chemicals." @aldenwicker.bsky.social From the archive: originally published 26/7/24 www.landclimate.org/...
landclimate.org
Are toxic chemicals in fashion under-regulated? - Land and Climate Review
Bertie speaks to Alden Wicker about her book 'To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick - and How We Can Fight Back'.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
I'm glad someone else is talking about this!
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Jimil Ataman @jimilataman.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
"Well, I hate to break it to you, but almost every single fashion company is actually just selling Chinese cashmere." Great piece by @aldenwicker.bsky.social: The Big "Mongolian" Cashmere Scam open.substack.com/pub/ecocult/...
open.substack.com
The Big "Mongolian" Cashmere Scam
You think you're sipping on Veuve, when you're actually drinking André.
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woke stifler @yelix.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
i think it’s unfair to expect regular people to know precisely how journalism works so i will say the answer to “why did they sit on that story for so long” is often “because of lawyers”
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Yikes. An Australian toddler's Temu hoodie caught fire instantly from a spark from a firepit, melting her skin. WTF was that hoodie made of??? www.news.com.au/national/que...
news.com.au
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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission @cpsc.gov · 08/01/2025
If you've lost power due to the wildfires around LA and are using a portable generator, remember to keep it outdoors and make sure your carbon monoxide alarms are working.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
A note to Californians evacuating: don't try to save your house. If your house survives and your neighbors' houses don't, your home will be catastrophically, unlivably toxic. Insurance companies do not cover "chemical contamination." news.mongabay.com/2024/11/as-g... #californiawildfires
news.mongabay.com
As global fire risk rises, modern homes become toxic plastic traps
Rob Wilson stood on his home’s back deck in Flagstaff, in the U.S. state of Arizona, as the wildfire approached. All was chaos: Utility trucks rushed through his neighborhood, shutting off gas and ele...
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
Of course! PFAS is everywhere. www.foodandwine.com/paper-straws...
foodandwine.com
A Study Says Paper Straws Aren't as Eco-Friendly as You Think
One study out of the University of Antwerp in Belgium showed that paper straws — as well as those made of glass and bamboo — are coated in PFAS, aka "forever chemicals." Here's what to use instead.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
My latest article gives real talk about what it takes to be a designer with a conscience these days.
ecocult.substack.com
So you want to start a sustainable fashion brand... You sure about that?
“My soul truth is: do it. My mind truth is: I hope you have a lot of money."
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
Hey. If it hasn't occurred to you (because I just articulated out loud this AM for the first time).... Supplements are ultra-processed food. Not only do they usually not do they thing they're supposed to do, they can be contaminated, and often come in plastic packaging.
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
I really love this!
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Labour Behind the Label @labourlabel.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Time for a living wage for all! www.commondreams.org/opinion/glob...
commondreams.org
A Global Minimum Wage Would Reduce Poverty and Corporate Power | Common Dreams
If wages in underdeveloped nations and in advanced industrial nations are not keeping pace with the vast accumulation of capital by the world’s wealthiest, one way to counter this situation is to move...
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Alden Wicker @aldenwicker.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
At the beginning of this week, I moved my 11-year-old website over to Substack, and I'm already happy with the move, with so many paid subscribers out of the gate. The culture of paying writers for quality work is top. Here's my first article: ecocult.substack.com/p/we-need-to...
ecocult.substack.com
We Need to Talk About Leather Gloves
Classic, versatile, and potentially poisonous?
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