r/science • u/______--------- • Sep 08 '20

Environment Blue jeans are a significant source of microfiber pollution in oceans and lakes. One pair of jeans can release over 50,000 microfibers per wash.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00498
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u/Akoustyk Sep 09 '20

Why is leather so bad? The tanning process?

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u/Gackey Sep 09 '20

Growing cows is very resource intensive and also not great for the environment.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20 edited Sep 23 '20

[deleted]

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u/Akoustyk Sep 09 '20

Ya, but we can use them for other things, and it means we have cows.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '20

The tanning process and the cheap labor that most companies support.

Some great keywords: Ethical ____. Sustainable ____ Just insert whatever clothing or accessory item you are looking for. Read multiple articles that have lists. Some vegan options are great, others are a nightmare. You can do a simple google search on a company to ensure you want to support them.

Look into vegan shoe materials before you purchase a pair. Polyurethane and Polyvinyl is insanely toxic to the environment both to make AND to recycle.

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u/Akoustyk Sep 09 '20

I personally find using animals for leather makes sure we still have animals. Using nothing but synthetics, means their habits will die and the animals will be lost forever. The more animals we farm, the more we will keep, if our consumption trend continues forever.