Complete 7 pages APA formatted article: Sustainability: Fur and Leather Clothing. An animal has to undergo the excruciating process of death so as to obtain a certain quantity of fur. Leather too is obtained from industrial tanning processes. Purchasing fur and leather items creates a gap in the market. In turn, this stimulates a demand for more items of fur and leather. More and more animals have to be killed so as to maintain a steady stream of fur and leather products into the consumer market (PETA, 2013). Some of the fur and leather items include clothes, handbags, belts, bags, shoes, and other common household items.

From an ecological point of view, buying fur and leather items is detrimental to the environment. The negative effects on the environment are staggering. As already mentioned, animals have to suffer and experience death so that the raw materials of fur and leather manufacturing can be obtained. The high rate of depletion of animal populations presents a worrying statistic for the ecological balance (PETA, 2013). Animals are necessary for the ecosystem because they fulfill certain critical functions. The natural food chains would be rendered impracticable if some animals would not exist to fulfill their expected roles in the cycle. Animals are also necessary for aesthetic beauty and ecological purity. Furthermore, some animals have been driven to the brink of extinction due to the clamor for fur and leather. Many other animals have become endangered as a result of these activities.

The effect of fur and leather processing on the environment goes far beyond the death of animal populations. The manufacturing processes also cause substantial damage to the environment. The production of fur and leather has been noted to produce various toxic wastes into the environment.