FUTURE PROOF
Being eco doesn’t mean pulling the wool over our eyes, says TG contributing editor Paul Horrell
Volvo has announced an end to leather for trimming its electric cars. Which means all its cars, because EVs is all it’ll make shortly. It says it’s doing it because of animal welfare and carbon reduction. I think it’s doing it because of virtue signalling tokenism. The urban dwellers who build cars seem to have a lot of illusions about farming. But I guess Volvo is pandering to the prejudices of a subset of car buyers, most of whom are urban dwellers too of course.
Let’s clear up some myths. No cattle are bred for leather production. Leather is a by-product. Cattle farming is a system. It produces meat, milk, cheese, butter and other foodstuffs plus leather and bits of this ’n’ that such as gelatin and the glues and varnishes used in violin production and art restoration. So unless we’re to eschew all the things on that list we might as well enjoy the leather.
Volvo says it’ll investigate upholstery part-made from wool instead. What does it think happens to the rest of that animal? Sheep farming is also a system. It produces meat, milk, lovely sheep’s cheese and at the end of each sheep’s life, er, leather too.
Look, I’m not trying to dodge an issue. A lot of cattle farming is bad. Most people eat too much red meat, and
“PERHAPS VOLVO WOULD LIKE TO TRY CULTIVATING AVOCADOS ON A HILL FARM?”
want it cheap. To make that happen, cattle are kept indoors and fed grain grown on land that could be used to grow cereals or vegetables that would feed humans directly. It can be bad for welfare and it’s inefficient land use, and the cattle emit climate gases. This is the problem Volvo highlights. But some meat and dairy is good. The livestock happily graze upland pasture, and their manure fertilises other arable land. I implore you to eat less meat, but to eat good meat like that. Perhaps someone from Volvo would like to try cultivating pulses or avocados on a Welsh or West Country hill farm? I wish them well.
I’m all in favour of Volvo’s attempts to find new more sustainable materials. As I write this I’m wearing a T-shirt, socks and underduds (sorry if that’s too much info) made predominately of bamboo, because this sequesters carbon rapidly, restores soil, and uses less water than cotton – though you’ve got to watch how the fibres are processed. Many car companies are using materials made of recycled plastics. Although obviously no Volvo driver would dream of drinking water out of a disposable plastic bottle.
These days car companies are mostly pretty good at accurately declaring the impact of their industrial processes. They have to be because they live in the spotlight, unlike the manufacturers of smaller consumer electronics or clothes, who mostly get away with less scrutiny. So I hope they’ll continue concentrating on the big stuff, like the impact of battery manufacture. To be fair, Volvo has produced a 60-page report on new sustainable materials so it’s trying hard. But it still can’t resist occasionally slipping into greenwash.