Learn why inattentional blindness makes you miss what’s right in front of you. Then, learn from author Dana Thomas about the environmental costs of “fast fashion” and what you can do to help. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about why you sometimes miss what’s right in front of you: https://curiosity.im/32IFhWe Additional resources from Dana Thomas: “Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes” on Amazon — https://amazon.com Official website — http://www.danathomas.com/ Follow @DanaThomasParis on Twitter — https://twitter.com/danathomasparis Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn why inattentional blindness makes you miss what’s right in front of you. Then, learn from author Dana Thomas about the environmental costs of “fast fashion” and what you can do to help.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about why you sometimes miss what’s right in front of you: https://curiosity.im/32IFhWe
Additional resources from Dana Thomas:
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/the-price-of-fast-fashion-w-dana-thomas-and-why-you-miss-whats-right-in-front-of-you
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn why sometimes you miss what’s right in front of you. You’ll also learn from author Dana Thomas about the environmental costs of “fast fashion” and what you can do to help.
CODY: Let’s dress up some curiosity.
Here's Why You Sometimes Miss What's Right in Front of You — https://curiosity.im/32IFhWe (Ashley)
There’s a reason why sometimes you miss something that’s right in front of you. You know what I’m talking about: maybe you used the flashlight function on your phone… while looking for your phone. Or [ad lib something else]. Well it turns out that stuff like this is actually pretty common. The phenomenon is called inattentional blindness, and it happens when you encounter something in a place you’re not expecting. No matter how strange, blatant, or eye-catching it is, our brains just don't want to notice things where we don't think they belong. For example, in 2014, researchers attached dollar bills to a tree on the quad at Western Washington University. The dollars were attached to a branch that extended out over the walking path, and the spot was chosen specifically because researchers had seen lots students have to duck to avoid that branch or push it to get it out of their way. And the students still did this after the dollars were attached — but hardly anybody noticed the money. There's another way that our brains can gloss over the details of a scene, too: even if the object is in the place that we expect it to be, our brains will sometimes gloss over it if it's too large. A 2017 article in The New York Times featured a caption that read “Click on the toothbrush in this messy bathroom,” along with a picture of a kitchen sink. People could easily spot a small toothbrush on this bathroom counter, but most people missed a GIGANTIC toothbrush right behind it, even though it was about 4 feet long. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you miss something that’s right in front of you, though. Our brains automatically jump to conclusions when we’re given tasks like "find the toothbrush," and most of the time, those conclusions are right (or at least well-informed). That makes us very good at finding and identifying things under normal conditions, even if we’re not so hot when their size and location have been tweaked.
[ARM & HAMMER]
ASHLEY: Today’s episode is sponsored by Arm & Hammer, and their new Cloud Control litter. You know what I love? My cat Aglet. I love [insert what you love most about a cat in your life: can be something in their personality, something you do together, some physical feature, anything!].
[ad lib literally all of this]
ASHLEY: You know what I don’t love? Cleaning up Aglet’s litter box. Which is why Arm & Hammer created new Cloud Control litter. There's no cloud of nasty stuff when I scoop ... it is 100% dust-free, free of heavy perfumes, and helps reduce airborne dander from scooping: So what happens in the litter box STAYS in the litter box.
CODY: New Cloud Control Cat Litter by Arm & Hammer. More Power to You.
Dana Thomas #1 — Problems with “fast fashion” and what you can do to help [3:26] (Cody)
We’re gonna help you save the environment! Climate change is all over the news, sure, but this week and next week, we’re gonna shine a spotlight on a couple other issues facing our ecosystem — along with how you can help. Together, we can have a Sustainable September! And today’s topic is probably not something you typically associate with saving our planet: fashion. Yes, there are environmental and cultural costs of fast fashion — and there’s a whole book about it. Best-selling author Dana Thomas recently released her newest book “Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes.” And we asked her why today’s “throwaway” fashion culture is such a big deal.
[CLIP 1:02]
Dana told us we’re tossing our clothes so easily because they’re so cheap — at least, in terms of money. But what we save in money, we make up in environmental costs, because those clothes have to travel a long way to get where they’re going sometimes. So how can we solve this problem?
[CLIP 2:23]
Dana also told us that while working on her book “Fashionopolis,” she found that there’s a growing trend around shopping secondhand, like at thrift stores like Salvation Army or Goodwill. Not only could you save a ton of money by doing that, but you might be surprised at the deals you’ll find. [Cody: I found a Hugo Boss jacket at a thrift store in Wicker Park. Twenty bucks. The original suit retailed for 800 dollars]. You’ll hear again from Dana Thomas tomorrow about how advances in science and technology could also help transform the fashion industry to be less wasteful in the future. In the meantime, you can check out her book and more in today’s show notes.
ASHLEY: And now, let’s recap what we learned today. Today we learned that you miss something that’s right in front of you when you don’t expect it to be there, thanks to “inattentional blindness”
CODY: And, that the fashion industry produces tens of billions of wasted garments every year — but you can help the environment by not treating your clothes like they’re disposable goods.
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Stay curious!