Linda Hall: Making animals extinct is not the answer to saving the environment

A spokeswoman from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says we should not be using garments from wool because it is bad for the environment.

I stopped in my tracks when I heard a woman on the AM Show saying wool and leather products should be undesirable,

The person talking via video link from I don’t know where because I didn’t catch it, but perhaps out of space, was Emily Rice from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).

Yes, she was the spokeswoman for a group that advocates for the wellbeing of animals.

That’s good because we know that animals can’t speak for themselves and some humans have no empathy at all when it comes to looking after animals.

Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today. Photo / Warren Buckland

However, I just could not believe what I was hearing. Rice said that making garments from wool was worse for the environment than using synthetics.

This was because ‘among animals, sheep are second only to cows when it comes to the production of the greenhouse gas methane”.

Never mind the fact that wool is a natural fibre and is fully biodegradable and according to my research takes three months to two years to compost depending on the wool itself and the external environment..

Synthetic fibres on the other hand, predominantly made from plastics such as nylon takes 30 to 40 years, and lycra and polyester take 500-plus years to decompose

Think about that next time you go to buy some new clothes.

Think about your T-shirt laying in the ground or the waterways for the next close to six generations of your family’s life.

It’s scary.

But that wasn’t the worst.

She went on to say “animals being used for meat and wool needed to stop being brought into existence”.

Unbelievable.

Her suggestion was that the land they graze on could be planted in hemp, cotton and things that can be made into leather-like products such as cactus leaves.

Then the farmers who have no stock to look after can be employed looking after these crops.

I’m sure our farmers will have something to say about that. Also surely growing all these crops would mean more fertiliser, water and a huge amount of land not to mention the labour to harvest it all.

I know there are a growing number of people that don’t eat meat for all kinds of reasons, some of them because they think it’s cruel, some because they don’t like the taste or texture, and more and more people because they can’t afford to.

Especially when it comes to lamb and beef.

But everyone has a right to choose.

It is certainly not up to Peta to decide that sheep and cattle should no longer exist. That decision, some would say, comes from much higher up.

There’s a lot of work we all need to do to help our environment recover from years of neglect.

I don’t think making animals extinct is one of them.

Linda Hall is a Hastings-based assistant editor for Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 30 years of experience in newsrooms. She writes regularly on arts and entertainment, lifestyle and hospitality, and pens a column.