Leather: Bad for the Environment, Workers, Communities, and Animals

[Karmadillo]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/11-4

Published on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 by Common Dreams
Leather: Bad for the Environment, Workers, Communities, and Animals
by Bruce Friedrich

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During that segment, Bill gave Wilson a hard time for coming on his show with a cow corpse on his back (Maher is consistently vocal about his support for animal rights and often references his association with PETA). For someone who was so totally supportive of Wilson and Plame, it was an interesting decision—to point out to his guest, for whom he clearly had tremendous respect—that wearing leather supports egregious cruelty to animals.

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Science validates our own experiences. Cows interact with one another in complex ways, forming collaborative relationships (for example, they form “grooming partnerships,” just like chimpanzees), learning from one another, and making decisions based on altruism and compassion. Sunday Times science editor Jonathan Leake explains that “cows have a secret mental life in which they bear grudges, nurture friendships and become excited over intellectual challenges,” just like humans. There’s more, which we’ve distilled on the “Someone, Not Something” pages of our Web site (our point: that each farm animal is an individual, is “someone, not something”).

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And sadly, cows don’t just die for leather; they’re also abused in ways that would be illegal of dogs or cats were the victims: Their bodies are mutilated without pain relief, they’re fed a diet that keeps them in chronic pain, they’re trucked for days at a time through all weather extremes, and more. And that’s what happens in the U.S. In China and the developing world, where most animal skins originate, abuse of cows is beyond our worst nightmares (please see the video below). And remember, even if a leather garment is made in the U.S. or Europe—and even if it’s expensive—the actual leather is probably still cheap leather from China or the developing world.

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Those chemicals are horrible for the environment, for the workers in the tanneries, and for the populations that live downstream. In New Scientist magazine, a lawyer for China's Centre for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims describes conditions on one river poisoned by waste from a nearby tannery: “A few years ago, villagers could swim in the river. Now they get blisters on their hands and feet from touching the water. ... When you stand close to the river you can smell rotting flesh because the leather factory dumps its sewage, made up of animal skin and meat, untreated into the river.” Is a leather jacket, belt or pair of shoes really worth that?

[hifiguy]

1. Shoes have to be made of something.

Better a renewable resource like leather from cattle than from petroleum-based plastics.

[JNelson6563]

2. I understand they can do amazing things with hemp.

[hifiguy]

4. I am not gonna trust my feet to "plant shoes"

on a -15 Farenheit midwinter day in Minneapolis.

[Viking12]

3. But I look so good in my leather chaps...

[HopeHoops]

5. I'm vegetarian, but I will wear leather. It isn't why the cows are killed - it's a by-product.

It won't go to waste, but it's already there and not the reason for the death. It also lasts pretty much forever. I know people who won't wear anything that comes from animals. I respect that. But I'm not vegan. I do eggs and dairy. Factory farm animals are treated like shit and die horrible deaths. In a way, I look at using their skin as a sign of respect in the same manner that I'm proud to have "ORGAN DONOR" on my driver's license. If I'm not using the parts anymore, somebody else might as well.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. k&r for the animals