mercredi 30 avril 2014

Claude-sans-coeur and Veganism




And the vegan doudous? What's the deal?

Vegan is a word that shows up more than once on this blog - mostly when we're talking about nosh.
You might know real well what it means, or maybe you've already asked Google…
So just for the lazy ones, here it is: "Veganism /ˈviːɡənɪzəm/ is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products particularly in diet, as well as following an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of sentient animals. A follower of veganism is known as a vegan".

So saying no to Camembert is all good and well, but what do doudous have to do with all of this?
Beyond what they eat (or don't) - how are the Claudes vegan?

Friends, it's simple: in the creation of a Claude, we use only non-animal materials like cotton, linen, or polyester, for example. And it's easy as the majority of our base products are cotton shirts, and it goes the same for the thread and stuffing.


But why?

To answer this question, let's take the example of wool (which, at the very beginning of Claude-sans-cœur, we were still using for the doudous' bodies) and citing the very detailed article that Ophélie wrote for her blog, Antigone XXI:

"We often believe, without pondering the question, that sheering animals for wool is an unoffensive activity, meaning it implies neither the suffering nor the death of the animals. And though, nothing could be farther from the truth. A great amount of the wool, of which our sweaters, our rugs, and our mittens are made, comes from merino sheep. More than half of this wool is produced in Australia, sheep country par excellence. But this country is equally notorious for something quite particular that the local wool industry practices; namely, mulesing. It is a practice originating in the 1930's, consisting of cutting the tail and skin around the hindquarters of young sheep, in order to fight against an incident of myiasis, or fly strike, where flies lay their eggs under the skin. All of this without anesthesia, of course. Let us note that the process was initially only for the older animals, because it was deemed 'too painful' for the lambs.
[…]

Besides the suffering inflicted upon beings who have asked nothing more than to keep their hair for themselves, one must know that the massive exploitation of sheep for their wool and their flesh has a considerable impact on the environment. Of all animals, the production of lamb indeed produces the most pollution: the consumption of 1 kg of lamb is responsible of the emission of nearly 40 kg of CO2 into the atmosphere, almost 50% more than with beef! Also, in New Zealand, the emission of methane, the majority of which coming from sheep farming, constitutes more than 90% of the country's emissions of greenhouse gas. To this, let's add the damage affecting the soil: the intense exploitation of sheep are indeed extremely destructive to vegetation and the earth, bringing with it immense problems of erosion of soil. And not to mention the resulting water pollution generated by such exploitation. A study conducted in New Zealand has shown that the contamination of water by the fecal matter of sheep has been such, even on medium-sized farms, that it has exceeded all recommended levels for usage, be it drinking water or water for recreation activities. Yes, because in these waters, we are also met by a bunch of products thought to defend against the stampede of parasitic infections.. which therefore then flows into the water we drink, the water in which we bath, and the water in which fish live… fish which we eat."

Suffering of animals + pollution = it stinks! non?







The wool is just one example among others - we could have taken the example of silk (but silk doudous…. anyway)

So then veganism, be it eating, thinking, or creating, is such a large part of the life of the Claudes (and the intern) that we don't even question it. Chez Claude-sans-cœur, we love animals - we don't have them on our plates, nor in our doudous.
End of story!

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