“Papa dear, could you manage to let me have a good big waggon? I want to take all our dirty clothes to the river and wash them.”
~ The Odyssey - Book VI (Samuel Butler Translation. p214)
In Book 6 of The Odyssey, Ulysses finds refuge on the island of Phaeacia after surviving the rough seas for many days. Minerva appears in a dream to Nausicaa, the king’s daughter and inspires her to get up. She gets up and asks her father for a wagon to take all the dirty clothes to the river and wash them.
One doesn’t see people washing clothes on rivers in modern times, but in most places in the world, the dirty water from washing clothes at home probably goes into the rivers. In comparison to ancient times, the water now contains toxins from detergents and chemicals in the clothes. The toxins kill small and large animals in the waters. Those that don’t get killed ingest them, and the toxins make it into the food chain. The clothing industry has transformed drastically over the years, and most people probably have many more clothes than they need. New fads and fashion come, and more clothes get created. It is incredulous to think that just by their clothing, humans have had a disastrous effect on the world.