Call to Action :Deepeco

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

There is a company called Deepeco that is trying to pass itself off as an

environmentally and socially responsible company whose main concern is the

Deep Ecology of our planet. I found and visited their web site after

ordering a pair of their hemp, vegan shoes from Pangea's veganstore.com and

was shocked to see what I found. They sell leather shoes, which are in no

way ecologically, socially, or environmentally sound. Or ethical, as they

promote their shoes to be. When this company first started business, they

did not sell dead leather products, and they supposedly made a commitment to

care about our planet. They have decided that it is a good part of their

business plan. I want to know how they arrived at that decision. Pangea's

veganstore.com no longer does business with this company.

 

I wrote deepeco the following email on May 28th and close to two weeks

later, I have yet to hear back from them. I am wanting to know how they

figure they are a company so concerned with deep ecology. So, I believe the

more folks that ask them the same questions, the more they will have to

consider and formulate a response. If they are going to sell leather, they

should not pass themselves off as a company that cares about Deep Ecology!

Please feel free to cut and paste my letter and send it to them at

info Their web site can be seem at http://www.deepeco.com

Please continue to cross-post this message. Deep E Co. 404 NW 10Th Avenue,

Suite 201, Portland, Oregon 97209 1-888-233-3373 FAX: 1-503-299-6287

Every single person can make a difference.

Thanks.

 

Namaste,

Susan McCoy

 

 

 

Dear DeepEco.com,

 

I recently purchased a pair of hemp shoes from pangea's veganstore.com and I

saw that they had your tag and web address on them. I was really excited

about the prospect of visiting your site and seeing your full line of

" environmentally and socially responsible " items. With a name like Deep

Eco- you would surely have the utmost care for the planet and reverence for

life.

 

I was shocked to find your site claiming to be " environmentally and socially

responsible " , yet selling shoes made from the hides of dead, slaughtered

animals.

 

You say: " Sustana leather is Deep E's exclusive " eco-leather, " which is

made in an ecologically sensitive manner from source of hides through the

tanning process. "

 

You say: " Sustana is made from hides of sustainable managed cattle supplied

by the Coleman ranch company in Colorado. Coleman cattle are raised humanely

from birth without steroids, growth hormones and antibiotics. They are fed

on pesticide-free feed and water and allowed to roam on pastureland that is

managed on a rotational grazing system to reduce the impacts of

overgrazing. "

 

Does this mean that they are allowed to die of natural causes and old age

before you turn them into shoes, or do they get marched into a slaughter

house and wait their turn to be hoisted up onto a rack and have their necks

sliced from ear to ear? Please let me know if this is the case- you site

isn't specific about this. Or could it actually be that their dead flesh

commands a higher economical benefit to the ranchers because their dead

flesh might not have as much poison as regular dead meat- and you just

happen to take advantage of getting their dead hides and having shoes made

out of them? How do you justify your leather shoes as being ecologically

sensitive and humane when they are made out of dead cows, raised and killed

in part, for the financial purpose of becoming your shoes?

 

You say that they are raised humanely- How humane is it to march them into

the slaughter house and kill them? How humane is it to kill? How

ecologically sensitive it to spend so much of our natural resources on

producing dead leather goods, when there are so many viable

alternatives? -For instance, the hemp products you actually sell! How

humane and ecologically sensitive is it to know that our government funds

the mass killing of wildlife so that the cattlemen can ensure that their

grazing cattle will go unharmed and add to their financial coffers? - And

possibly yours as well.

 

Your " sole of the rainforest " line of products is dumbfounding. You really

are attempting, and failing miserably, to convince people know how

" ecologically sound " your rubber products are to the rain forest - when you

know damm well that it's being chopped to hell for cattle. If you *really*

cared - you would not sell the exact same dead leather product that

contributes to the degradation of this precious forest. Do you feel that

you are entitled and " special " because yours might not come from exactly the

same place? You are, in effect saying that wearing leather is just fine-

we just want you to buy it from us. Do you feel that by selling leather you

do not play a part in this degradation? Take a stand. Grow a backbone.

Don't sell dead leather.

 

You say: " The tanning and finishing standards for Sustana are based on the

Dutch Ecolabel for Footwear, which include use of low-toxicity trivalent

chromium, minimal release of effluents, low impact, chlorine-free

water-based dyes and finishes, biological purifying systems and recycling of

protein wastes. "

 

Your list of " Sustana Leather Environmental Benefits " is laughable at best.

Is releasing a " minimal " amount of poison really conscious of Deep Ecology

when you know you could sell other equally viable products, and *truly*

humane products, that do not contribute to any toxicity release into our

planet?

 

You are contributing to an inhumane and ecological nightmare whether you

want to be blind to it or not. I find it repugnant that you are passing

yourselves off as a company that is truly interested in the well-being and

" deep ecology " of our planet. It is a disgusting shame that you may

actually fool someone into thinking that they should feel good about buying

your leather shoes- or any of your shoes, for that matter. Does it give you

" warm fuzzies " to know that your cattle are raised humanely before they are

KILLED to be made into your " humane " shoes? I want to know. It's a shame

you didn't have to pass a test before you were allowed to call your self

Deep Ecology. Please explain how you can call yourselves by that name.

 

Sincerely,

Susan McCoy