Lose the (Toxic) Leather

Do you know what’s in your leather? Conventional leather requires an estimated 225 toxic chemicals in its tanning process and is a by-product of the meat industry, to which we allocate 25% of our world’s land surface, one-third of our grain, and a majority of our carbon emissions. (According to a 2009 Worldwatch Institute study, meat production accounts for 51% of our greenhouse gas emissions—that’s at least double that of cars.) So along with reconsidering that burger, take a minute to evaluate the type of leather you’re investing in for your shoes, bag or jacket. If you’re buying leather at all, look for the kind that’s tanned without heavy metals like chrome.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2014 at 9:27 am. It is filed under Sustainability and tagged with carbon, cows, leather, methane. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.