Timo Rissanen

Timo Rissanen @timorissanen, is an associate professor and research director at the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion and Textiles at the University of Technology Sydney. He is also a founding member of the Union of Concerned Researchers in Fashion, which advocates for transparency and sustainability in the fashion industry.

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IRK: Tell us your “Why” 

I have been a lifelong birdwatcher and too many species of birds have vanished in my lifetime, including during my two-decade career in fashion and fashion education. Everything on this planet is interconnected and interdependent; extinctions matter. While we know vastly more about fashion and sustainability than we did twenty years ago, thanks to many pioneering women, as an industry we are doing more and more of what makes things worse, not better. While that at times gets me down, the immense beauty of life on this planet, including humanity, keeps me going.

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IRK: What are you most passionate about with respect to taking care of people and the planet? 

We have lost so much, and we should not lose any more. All life has intrinsic value, whether it is useful to humans or not.

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IRK: What are some conscious actions you implement in your daily life?

I don’t eat meat, I don’t drive, I mostly buy secondhand clothing. (I am far from perfect but always striving to elevate further).

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IRK: What’s your hope for the future of the planet? 

That we (humans and all life) are still here in a millennium from now, in ten millennia from now. And in a decade from now.

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What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most? https://sdgs.un.org/goals 

Without taking care of SDG14: Life below Water and SDG15: Life on Land most of the rest are redundant.