I’ve got a few pairs of wool socks from pre-veganism, but they’re all wearing down and approaching their end of life. I need warm, durable socks that can approach wool’s comfort and utility. What do you suggest?
I’ve got a few pairs of wool socks from pre-veganism, but they’re all wearing down and approaching their end of life. I need warm, durable socks that can approach wool’s comfort and utility. What do you suggest?
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I used to think that, and it’s true that wool sheep have it pretty good for agricultural animals. But the wool and mutton industries are very closely tied to and financially dependent on each other. Many wool sheep that are unproductive or excesss are sold to meat operations. It’s pervasive throughout the industry. If any animal product could be done with minimal exploitation, it’s wool, but that’s not how it operates in practice.
Also “sheep need to be sheared so it isn’t wrong” is kind of moving the starting point of history wayyy further forward than it needs to be. Obviously no naturally occurring animal needs humans to shear them. They need to be sheared because we made them that way so that we could exploit them for their body parts. The only ethical thing to do with a species that has been bred with negative traits for the benefit of humans is to stop breeding them.
Agreed, although that doesn’t answer the question of what we do with the sheep we’ve got right now. I think those historical questions are relevant and informative, but they don’t address the question of immediate action. Maybe sheep shouldn’t need to be sheared, but they do. What do we do about that, aside from ending their breeding?
Maybe I’m a bit of an idealist but I like to imagine a vegan society having animals that play productive and even economic roles in human society, but with dignity, rights, and safety. I can see a world where small farms keep sheep for wool production, but without the vast economic pressures that make it so horrifically exploitative and cruel today.