From the Mouth of a Vegetarian Nature-Loving Hippie

I don't advocate wearing an animal fur unless you went out, killed it yourself, ate it for dinner, and then made a coat out of it. That's fine. Yet i understand that there are degrees of extremity.

It occurred to me the other day that my down coat filled with delightfully warm feathers and down was probably the result of a lot of dead birds. Can i bring myself to feel badly about this? Let's apply logic.

First of all, as my darling life partner pointed out, we need to ask: am i capable of keeping warm and staying alive without having an animal coming to harm? Eating? Yes. No problem there. I've been vegetarian for about eleven years. But am i capable of keeping warm in any conditions under 30 degrees where there is a hint of a wind? Not even if i've got multiple wool and cashmere sweaters on underneath it. Put on a down coat, and suddenly, the world is a better place. To answer the question, NO. I am not capable of keeping warm without some further measure of animal product. Sorry, birds.

Second of all, and i think most poignantly, we have to think about the available choices. We've got leather, wool, fur, down, and those bizarre plant-based hollo-fill substances made from god only knows what polymers of plant fiber extracts that probably do worse things to the environment during the production process than killing a couple of birds ever would. Paper or plastic. How do we make these choices? Do i want to wear plants or animals during the winter time? Well, plants DIE during the wintertime. I think that answers that question.