Day 10: Fur

It used to be OK to wear fur even for Joe Namath. In general people in North America no longer recognize fur as a symbol of status but rather an indication of ignorance or at the least irresponsible complacency. I'm not sure this is entirely fair.

Some of the information that I could find regarding human comsumption of animals:
- 50 million animals are killed annually for their fur.

- In the US alone 18,329,712,900 (I think that's 18 trillion) animals are killed annually for food consumption (Cattle:35,507,500 - Pigs:116,558,900 - Chickens:9,075,261,000 - Layer hens:69,683,000 - Broiler chickens:9,005,578,000 - Turkeys: 271,245,000)

- Most information I came across suggested that animals raised for fur and animals raised for food are governed by the same agricultural laws and in general are raised under similarly horrific conditions.

The difference between animals raised for food and animals raised for fur is rationalized by most people using the obvious distinction that fur is self indulgence and food is a necessity. For me this argument doesn't hold water here in North America where the average household wastes 50% of the food produced for their consumption. Some of this waste comes at the production level but most of it comes in the home.

If we are talking about irresponsible indulgence fur is the least of our offences. Think about the lakes we have drained in the Canadian Arctic to mine jewelry grade diamonds for rings and earrings. Or the everyday ritual of stand around for 15 minutes singing being lightly caressed with clean drinkable water while a billion people a day go thirsty. It is estimated that for a high quality of life a human needs 135 liters of water a day. The average Canadian uses 700 liters a day. This volume includes water used for cooking, drinking, hygiene, industry (oil production), agriculture and the service sector.

So the next time you righteously look down your nose at that fur clad movie star, take a minute to think about the 1 million people that died that day of hunger and thirst and how your lifestyle may have played a part.



We all need to start making decisions based on morality and equality rather then greed. Only then can we add fur to the list of things that makes a person ignorant.

How about that for a wondering rant, eh!!!