I’ve been promising more posts on the vegan life, and here’s another one. Today’s topic: what to do about leather. First, a general update:
I’m as close to being fully vegan as I’ve ever been. No eggs, no dairy, no meat, no fish. More fruit, more vegetables, more nuts, more seeds. I’m wary of how easy it is to turn into a “junk-food vegan”; I take it easy on the wheat products and the textured soy protein. There’s a limit to how much soy I want to pump into my body.
I pack a lot of snacks wherever I go. When I was simply vegetarian, I could always count on being able to find a protein bar or a prepacked salad somewhere. Being vegan means being very intentional about what I have with me; I don’t like being caught with no vegan options in the midst of an afternoon snack attack. Careful planning — careful shopping, careful filling of tupperware with nuts, fruit, and other fun things — helps prevent the tempttion to fall.
As for leather: I own a lot of it. I have a dozen pairs of nice leather shoes, leather belts, a leather wallet, a suede jacket. I don’t have the resources to immediately replace them all. I am committed to not buying any more leather items, and to asking my loved ones not to give me anything leather. As these items wear out, I can replace them one by one with vegan alternatives. But it seems wasteful to throw them all away, and I can’t afford to instantly replace them all even if I were to give them to charity. I’m aware that as a teacher and youth leader and “public vegan”, wearing leather sends a mixed message. My goal is to get to the point where I’m not wearing any animal product (and that will mean, I suppose, foregoing the pleasures of a silk shirt or boxers). It will mean not only buying vegan clothing, but doing my best to ensure that the human producers of that clothing were well-paid. It narrows my shopping options, but I’ve found some excellent sources for good things. In the meantime, I’ll have some leather on me more often than not.
I am a great believer in incremental change. I ran a 5K before I ran a marathon. I gave up alcohol and drugs before I gave up cigarettes, and I still haven’t given up caffeine (and may never do so.) I gave up reckless promiscuity before I gave up “flirting”. I worked on meditating for five minutes before I tried going for ten. And I gave up red meat before I gave up chicken, and I gave up chicken before I gave up cheese. I’ve given up buying leather before I’ve given up wearing it. Progressing in slow stages works for me.
Those who don’t want to see us change will be eager to point out where we’re not yet perfectly consistent. They try and convince us that we must do everything perfectly, or not at all. They try and discourage folks from making positive changes by emphasizing that it will be hypocritical not to change everything all at once. Their goal is to keep us stuck, to keep us believing that transformation is too difficult, too painful. They scare off the aspiring vegan by saying, “If you still wear leather, you’re a fraud.” Well, no. If you still buy leather, you might want to think about your values — but continuing to wear a useable item until it is no longer so is hardly proof of weak principles, only of financial limitations.
My veganism, like my feminism, like my faith, is rooted in the cry of Aslan at the end of the Narnia books: “Further up, further in.” There’s always more growing to do, and it won’t be finished for a long, long time.
Good for you, Hugo.
And as long as the Vegan Stormtroopers never show up on my doorstep, you’ll hear nothing but encouragement and zero in the way of criticism for you living your own life in accordance with your own convictions, and getting there on the road that is smoothest for you.
You’ve given me a very happy image in my head of hemp-clad Vegan Stormtroopers…
Well said. And really encouraging. Thanks.
I’m just curious - are you planning on raising your kids to be vegan, too?
ontinuing to wear a useable item until it is no longer so is hardly proof of weak principles, only of financial limitations
Many anti-consumerists (myself included) would argue that it’s actually very much proof of strong principles. The cow in question is dead and gone. It’s better to use what you have, tainted though it may be, than to participate in the destructive capitalist system by purchasing more. You can’t unkill the cow or unmake the leather, but you can refrain from buying the petroleum-based product shipped from thousands of miles away.
The point I think I failed to articulate: even if one could afford to replace all that leather at once, the most ethical, responsible choice is to use it until it’s unusable, because, unless the replacements would be organic and locally made, they’re just as harmful to people and animals as products literally made of animals’ skin, given than global capitalism is currently destroying the world.
Thanks, Daisy, an excellent way of putting into words what I have been feeling.
Mermade, we’re going to keep a vegetarian household for them, perhaps not vegan. And as they get older, they can make decisions about what they want to eat when they aren’t in our home. But our home will be vegetarian for the kids, vegan for us. We’re very clear that milk (other than from a human mother) is not particularly good for kids; the research has demonstrated that.
Good for you Hugo. I know if I were to ever become a vegetarian I’d have to do it slowly. A year without pork, then beef, then chicken, etc
Is it true vegans don’t eat honey?
Some vegans don’t eat honey. We are transitioning from honey to agave nectar. Here’s what we use instead, and it’s yummy:
http://www.rawagave.com/product.asp?Product_Id=1895&d_Id=5274&l1=5274&l2=
I’m just curious - would you and/or other vegans object to handling or possessing culturally significant (non-edible) products that have been tried and true for millenia but are necessarily made out of animal byproducts (because of economics, aesthetics, or some other reason)?
The example I’ll use here is drums from all sorts of cultures, made out of animal skins for centuries. Of course, now there are synthetic drum heads, not only for Western-type drums, but also for outside-the-mainstream drums such as Middle Eastern dumbeks. However, for every drum type that has gone synthetic, there are long-established drums that are still made with animal skins, such as the North Indian tabla and sub-Saharan djembe. I’ve been to a few drum circles with a combination of synthetic and real skin drums (more often than not with a real skin majority), and I’d be willing to be that there were at least a couple of vegan participants each time (although I can’t say for sure). Is there an official vegan position on this?
I respect indigenous cultural traditions, Ed. I am much less concerned about that sort of thing, and I know of no Vegan High Command which has issued a pronouncement on it.
And of course, I watch and am a huge fan of many sports that use leather balls.
Hugo-
I do respect your dedication. When you do things, you go all out.
As your veganism evolves you will probably move beyond simply rejecting what you perceive as murder (meat and leather) and slavery (milk products and eggs) and focus on the negligent and careless killing (kind of like manslaughter) of animals.
The distribution system that transports our goods inflicts a tremendous amount of damage on animal life from insects all the way to mammals such as skunks, rabbits, and deer. Local products will of course be less likely to kill or maim animals. Pest control for food crops as well as cotton often decimate animal populations in the ground. Actually, the amount of pesticide used on cotton is mind boggling. Going completely organic will help, but even organic farmers often intentionally kill “pests” using things other than chemicals. Not sure what the total solution is, but it might involve growing your own food as well as textile crops for cloth.
Hugo, good post. I think a corollary of this is that there is no point - at least in this life - where one can stand on “pure ground.” Even a thoroughly consistent vegan will make use of products that have animal death and suffering as their inevitable byproduct (clearing land for growing crops, e.g.). The fact that nature inherently entails a certain level of predation and competition for resources makes this inevitable. That’s why the “personal purity” school of vegetarianism/veganism doesn’t appeal to me. I think a better model can probably be given in terms of “witness” - avoiding the unnecessary death and suffering of animals wherever possible witnesses to a higher order of things. This gets pretty eschatological and religious, but it seems to me much more realistic than the idea that we can somehow avoid inflicting harm on animals entirely.
Agreed, Lee. I like the “witness” model, just as I like the sense of always pushing closer and closer to the goal that will only be completed when He comes.
The “Vegan Stormtroopers” was only part in jest, just trying to be lighthearted; however, I have had many Vegans in - shall we say - very stern terms describe just how I will pay for my carnivorous sins “when ze revolution comes.” This has included threats of prosecution for murder, and longing for the day when defense of an animal will give them license to shoot “people like you(me).”
Kind of Randall Terryish, if you ask me.
I personally almost always hate the “hypocrisy” argument to begin with. Saying the right things and doing the right things are both good. You shouldn’t stop saying the right things even if you can’t do the right things, nor should you stop doing the right things just because you can’t say the right things. We are all hypocrites, and usually it just shows that we’re struggling to do the right thing. The only areas where a person is never hypocritical are those where they either effortlessly do the right thing (yay!) or where they’ve given up on bothering to care that their actions are wrong.
Indeed, Tam; no decent person avoids hypocrisy because only those who lack all decency can successfully live up to their values at all times. And even then, they might betray themselves with a careless, charitable act.
Gonz, I’ve spoken to the Vegan High Command. Come the revolution, death for you — by legumes.
a late comment here, but thanks for this post! i actually just posted last week about my despair at finding a new pair of non-leather shoes. ugh, what an odyssey. i’m also going by the Wear It Out theory concerning my old leather shoes/jackets/bags, but i am concerned about my future ability to find pieces that are both cute AND not made of dead animal :( we’ll see how it goes…
This is a great “thinking” post.
Not eating animals or their by-products is a lot easier than shopping. ie: shoes, handbags, leather in cars, film, etc. . .
I to am struggling with this. I go on and off. I just wish I didn’t get so emotional. If it was the olden days and animals were treated humanely (lived a great life, roaming free, no stress) it would be much different than the grim reality of today.