Greenpeace Now Supports “Sustainable” Slaughter of Seals for Fur
We still have a lot of work to do, you guys. As inhabitants of the 21st century, it is astounding that we still must have conversations about why producing garments made from animal fur is simply not necessary in industrialized parts of the world. Lady Gaga still defends wearing others’ skin and Kim Kardashian has pledged to only wear fur made from roadkill (which… just… what?), and recently a Greenpeace-backed fashion show in Greenland just called seal fur garments “eco-friendly.”
In an interview with MSNBC, the Senior Advisor of the Nordic Council of Ministers, Nuaja Bianco, answered some questions by reporter Tony Dokoupil, all while wearing sealskin clothing and smiling. Here’s part of the transcript:
Dokoupil: So, sustainable seal clothing. I think people in America may be surprised. In parts of America fur is out of fashion because of ethical or moral questions. Is that not the case in Nordic countries?
Bianco: That’s not the case at all in the Nordic countries and not at all in Greenland, either. I think it’s, the view that you present for me here, which I know very well, might be a little old fashioned in a sense that you have notions going back to the 70s where you had killing of baby seals, which is not at all the case today. You have lots of seals, first and foremost, and the seals that are killed today are adults.
Dokoupil: They’re grown up seals. They volunteer for it.
Bianco: (laughs) More or less.
(cut)
Bianco: We’re trying to get the message out there that it’s okay, it’s legitimate to wear seal.
I am not quite sure how disconnected from reality a person has to be to condemn the slaughter of baby animals, yet condone killing their parents – all within the same breath – but it is clear that this woman has surpassed that level of delusion. Perhaps the most infuriating is Greenpeace Arctic Campaigner Jon Burgwald, a representative from the very organization who opposed seal slaughter decades ago, who says the only reason killing seals for fur was bad back then is because it was so commercialized and not solely left to the practices of indigenous people. Could someone please explain to me how a high profile fashion show where seal skins are worn by models and designers are interviewed by major news stations is not commercialized? And how it supports indigenous hunters?
Again, we still have a lot of work to do.
Photo credit: Wikimedia
