I'm pleased with what this contest did. I wish there was more contestants and different opinions, but even like this, we covered most of the topic.

We have 3 contestants:

@bigdeej

@bigdeej wrote a comment, about how it's worst to waste an animal's life for consumption then wearing it's skin.
Then he wrote this: "many animal hides can or are harvested from naturally deceased animals, making those a great option for anyone concerned about the well being of the animals whose skins/products they use"

I wish he elaborated on the topic a little, @bigdeej, what did you mean animal hides are harvested from naturally deceased animals? Where do people find such animals? Aren't all skins coming from the industry?

@fruitdaddy

@fruitdaddy wrote an essay centering around animal cruelty activism. @fruitdaddy, it's infinitely more difficult to be an activist while wearing a dead body of an animal, by doing that we open ourselves to be judged as the greatest hypocrites.

He expressed his difficulties of what to do with his items from before he was vegan... Then he mentioned the euphemism "leather" people use to escape words that signify living beings like "skin"...

I agree with all these opinions.

@evecab

@evecab made a video and managed to get on the trending /vegan page with her contest post... She hovered around the zero-waste concept... And damn she's right! The activism aside, why would we throw away a piece of an animal that was already turned into clothes?

She says she's not famous enough to have an impact with the way she dresses and thus what she wears publicly is not important. I disagree. I think we all have an impact, not mass like famous people but definitely some kind of influence.

@webdevtrust offered a beautiful solution to this: "You could paint "VEGAN" on that leather jacket to balance karma when wearing it ;)"... I think that would be a good way to turn all that controversy into publicity for the movement. We would incentivize people to come up to us an ask what's that all about and we would get an opportunity to talk about veganism.

My opinion

I was thinking something between @fruitdaddy and @evecab... I used to have 2 pairs of leather shoes, a leather belt and a wool coat. I've kept the shoe soles for recycling and the metal clip from the belt, the shoes I threw away and the belt is being composted right now (the shoes had too much glue). It's not only an activist's thing, I felt like shit wearing those things even when I'm alone. Plus, I have more shoes so it's not a problem and I now wear a cloth sash instead of a belt. The wool coat is family legacy and I've kept it for some formal occasions. I'd have to buy a new one if I threw it away.

When I don't know what to do, I divide it in three aspects:

1. Ecology - from an environmentalist's perspective, it's better to wear clothes until they wear out and possibly recycle them afterwards, compared to throwing them away.

2. Society - the impact of wearing animal skins or wool is obvious, if you look good wearing it, more people will wear it. However, we can turn this impact around if everyone knows why we're wearing it.

3. Economy - if the whole humanity stopped skinning animals we would still have a lot left and a lot more could have been produced in ethical ways (road kill, naturally deceased animals from sanctuaries and so on), so this economical effect shouldn't be ignored. Ethical entrepreneurs are welcome here.

The winner is...

...

@evecab!

The reason is, she offered a realist's perspective in the whole story, I think zero-waste is the first thing we should look for when the ethics are satisfied. I was thinking between @bigdeej and @evecab, but Eve changed my mind more so she's the winner! The @webdevtrust's proposal seems like a great activist's tool.

@evecab, if you decide to do that, we would love to see the jacket!

Next contest

Although this contest was a minor loss for me in SBD value, I will continue with it because I enjoyed it so much! Next topic will be released tomorrow around noon.

With love,
@freegardens!