Did you know that the Earth's surface has warmed by a full degree over the last century? While this doesn't sound like much, such a seemingly-minor change has enormous impacts around the globe. As a result, many of us are wondering what steps we can take to help with environmental change.
Vegan footwear is one of the many developments coming from the desire to be green. Organic hemp shoes and other types of eco-friendly shoes are becoming more popular every year. Read on for a quick guide on eco-friendly vegan footwear.
Benefits of Vegan Footwear For the Environment
Can eco-friendly shoes truly make such a difference? One factor in the discussion is understanding how many different types of eco-friendly shoes exist.
Arguably the most popular are organic hemp shoes. These shoes are made from sustainably-harvested hemp plants and woven into fabric shoes.
Another option is vegan sneakers made from waste. Shoes such as these may take recycled materials or safe waste materials to create fashionable and sustainable sneakers.
Here are a few of the many benefits of vegan shoes.
Reduces Plastics
One of the greatest problems facing the environment today is the high amount of plastics in use. Single-use plastics like cups, straws, and to-go containers pile up in our landfills and oceans. Even reusable plastics like food storage containers are negatively impacting the environment.
Plastic is often generated by the manufacturing of traditional footwear. Vegan shoes don't generate this byproduct, helping to keep plastic out of the environment.
In many cases, these shoes remove the plastic from the environment. Eco-friendly shoes made from waste or recycling materials may be made using these plastics. It's another fantastic way that these shoes keep waste out of our environment.
Reduce Emissions
Plastics aren't the only thing that traditional manufacturing generates. The emissions of a single manufacturing factory is more immense than many people understand.
Due to the methods of creating vegan sneakers, these shoes rarely have high emissions. While manufacturing exists to clean recycled materials, process hemp, and other such tasks, the manufacturing remains less.
By reducing emissions, we cut down on what chemicals and gasses are let into the world. These emissions can worsen global warming, pollute, and negatively impact our environment. Reducing them is one of the key goals of green movements.
Save Power
Emissions are only one of the many issues with traditional manufacturing. These industries consume a staggering amount of power.
As a result, society needs to generate more energy to power the industry. Generating this power will cause more emissions and waste, further harming the environment.
The high power consumption is one of the many reasons we're developing alternative and renewable energies. Burning more fossil fuels, coal, and natural gas is continuing to pollute our world. If the power consumed is from solar farms, wind turbines, and similar sources, the impact isn't as deep.
Regardless of the source, high energy consumption causes great issues for our society. Instead of supporting the manufacturing industry that causes such pollution and power consumption, vegan footwear helps counteract it.
By not needing these massive factories and industries, eco-friendly shoes save power while cutting down on emissions. A single pair of shoes can represent an enormous environmental impact.
Consider where you're sourcing your clothing from. Whether you switch to shoes made out of hemp or not, try to make greener, more informed choices. Doing so can help us keep the world healthy.
Cut Down on Waste
Cutting down on waste is one of the most important battles for the planet's health. The United States alone produces 268 million tons of waste.
The majority of this waste ends up in landfills, where some take decades or centuries to break down. Biodegradable waste poses less of a problem but still can litter environments.
All the generated waste adds up over the years. The waste chokes out the ecosystem, pollutes drinking water supplies, and has many other negative effects.
Eco-friendly shoes help to cut down on this waste by generating less. Organic hemp shoes are made almost entirely of hemp, while some brands have different builds. These shoes generate very little waste and are low-cost to manufacture.
Shoes made of recycled materials stop that material from reaching our environment. Both types of shoes significantly reduce the waste that we as a society generate.
Defend Wildlife
The first victims of pollution aren't humans, but the animals living in the environment. Many of us are familiar with plastics polluting the ocean. Straws were damaging and killing turtles, while soft drink packaging rings were strangling seabirds.
Wildlife that's exposed to pollution regularly faces harmful effects or death. The stomachs of oceanside animals like seagulls, pelicans, and some sea creatures are frequently found to contain plastics.
The first step to defending wildlife is to stop filling their home with such pollutants. Switching to eco-friendly shoes can help keep these animals safer.
Many people are no longer picking products solely on their aesthetic value or cost. Sustainably and responsibly made clothing has become significantly more popular. Make sure you're researching your footwear to not pick something harming the environment.
Conserve Resources
Finally, creating shoes traditionally consumes the world's resources. While plastic is nearly infinite, other materials that aren't manufactured are more finite.
These sources aren't unlimited, and humanity will eventually run them dry. To avoid this, switching to vegan shoes will help limit our consumption. Look into what materials your shoes use when buying them to make an informed choice.
Wearing Vegan Footwear
Vegan footwear has beneficial effects on the environment, wildlife, and our world's energy usage. You can help cut down on emissions and the harmful side effects of manufacturing with eco-friendly shoes. Whether you prefer recycled sneakers or shoes made out of hemp, your choice affects our world.
For more information on making choices that help defend the Earth, be sure to browse our blog.