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You are here: Home / Climate Change / Climate Solutions: Sustainable Cactus Leather

Climate Solutions: Sustainable Cactus Leather

by TaMara|  July 11, 20217:40 pm| 45 Comments

This post is in: Climate Change, Climate Change Solutions

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Not a lot makes me smile these days. These guys make me smile:

Leather production is a very toxic process. It uses an amazing amount of water that is contaminated with toxic chemicals for processing and tanning. And of course, cattle take a lot of water – in growing feed and growing cows.

And the final insult to the environment, tanned leather can take decades to biodegrade, becoming just another burden on landfills.

And what of “vegan” leathers – most are made of petroleum products, with all the issues around plastic production and disposal.

Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez offer an alternative:

Desserto®  is a highly sustainable plant based material as an alternative to leather made from cactus, often distinguished by its great softness at touch while offering a great performance for a wide variety of applications and complying with the most rigorous quality and environmental standards. The aim is to offer cruelty free, sustainable alternatives, without any toxic chemicals, phthalates and PVC. The result, Desserto® , the cactus material, is partially biodegradable and has the technical specifications required by the fashion, leather goods, luxury packaging and furniture industries.

That’s why I find Desserto leather alternative products so inspiring and I hope their process proves successful over time. For now, I am going to search out products made from their cactus leather and give it a try for myself.

cross-posted at LivingLightly

 

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Reader Interactions

45Comments

  1. 1.

    David Fud

    July 11, 2021 at 7:47 pm

    Well, at least we will be able to grow a product in all of our future deserts.

  2. 2.

    TaMara (HFG)

    July 11, 2021 at 7:53 pm

    @David Fud: Determined resolve is a good place between denial and despair.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/10/lawrence-weschler-beyond-climate-denial-and-despair/616698/

  3. 3.

    MagdaInBlack

    July 11, 2021 at 8:03 pm

    Well, that’s an intriguing idea. Thank you.

    (the leather not the future deserts)

    Eta: also thanks for the Atlantic article.

  4. 4.

    japa21

    July 11, 2021 at 8:05 pm

    So this on the TandV yesterday morning. Looked fascinating.

  5. 5.

    PsiFighter37

    July 11, 2021 at 8:14 pm

    Not to rain on the parade, but talk of climate solutions seems like we have missed the boat already. In SoCal in May – dry as a bone, even right next to the Pacific. Barely any rain over 2+ weeks despite a week of typical overcast skies in the morning. Now up in Maine – lots of dried-out grass in the parks where the famous lighthouses are.

    We are in serious fucking trouble, and I have a bad feeling that it’s too late to do anything about it.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    July 11, 2021 at 8:20 pm

    Think by this time the statute of limitations has expired for the grievous infraction of ripping off a “Do not remove this tag under penalty of law” label when I was seven.

    ;)

  7. 7.

    John Revolta

    July 11, 2021 at 8:21 pm

    Can you get it with the spikes still on?

  8. 8.

    TaMara (HFG)

    July 11, 2021 at 8:23 pm

    @PsiFighter37: See comment #2

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    July 11, 2021 at 8:25 pm

    @John Revolta

    “Keeps your bag of chips upright or holds your sandwich within easy reach.”

  10. 10.

    Spanky

    July 11, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    Hmmmmm. Sounds prickly.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    July 11, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    Desserto

    Wasn’t that a William Castle gimmick arranged with theater owners to crank up the thermostats?

    :)

  12. 12.

    Mark in Algarrobos

    July 11, 2021 at 8:35 pm

    I think it’s great. Not to be a wet blanket, but with only 14 acres.. they aren’t going to replace leather soon.

    P.S. I have a couple Nopal plants in my yard. Maybe I can get in at the beginning.. ?

  13. 13.

    Cermet

    July 11, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    You should post on the new idea of using highly radioactive nuclear waste to power a new, ultra-safe and super cheap nuclear reactor – this could eliminate most of the CO2 currently produced without sacrificing our standard of living in any manner. This is what our world desperately needs and few even have heard about it – I post a lot on it but crickets by the main posters here.

    See:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/llewellynking/2020/10/13/new-design-molten-salt-reactor-is-cheaper-to-run-consumes-nuclear-waste/?sh=2e99f90f33c6

  14. 14.

    E.

    July 11, 2021 at 8:45 pm

    @PsiFighter37: I’m with you. We are in a climate emergency and need to quit kidding ourselves about it. It’s going to change everything, including in our basic social relations, and we need to be in a position to manage those changes as best we can. I don’t even know what true firm resolve would look like in this slow moving catastrophe.

  15. 15.

    L85NJGT

    July 11, 2021 at 8:58 pm

    A moment of silence for the President of Haiti.

  16. 16.

    TaMara (HFG)

    July 11, 2021 at 9:00 pm

    @Cermet: This seems like a Cheryl topic and I’d love to hear her thoughts on it.

  17. 17.

    PsiFighter37

    July 11, 2021 at 9:01 pm

    @E.: What the history books will tell us is that when Al Gore wrote ‘Earth in the Balance’, he was already too fat.

    PF37 +6

  18. 18.

    Dan B

    July 11, 2021 at 9:01 pm

    @Cermet: The small nukes look interesting but…. They produce a highly dangerous form of uranium, as I recall, that must be “burned”. The final waste product is still radioactive so the safe disposal issues are modified but not eliminated.

    And cost. How much renewable energy and storage can be produced per dollar? I haven’t seen a thorough examination of this by outfits like Forbes. Who wants new nukes running on highly dangerous waste from nuclear warheads and who wants it shipped through their neighborhoods?

    Bill Gates is building one in Montana so we may have some solid data before long.

  19. 19.

    Mary G

    July 11, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    @PsiFighter37:  Even in the olden times rain in SoCal after March was a long, long shot. One previous year, too lazy to Google, we had a terrible drought reconciled by five heavy rains in March and they called it the March Miracle.

  20. 20.

    PsiFighter37

    July 11, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    @Mary G: I lived in SoCal, in the middle of the desert, for nearly 5 years. Even my faded memories of then had a very clear guideline – winter would bring snow to the mountaintops. In recent years, this has barely happened, especially the further north one has gone. It was especially shocking to see how dry it was on PCH a couple months ago, because the condition of the soil and the plants was what it looked like if you had taken State Highway 14 in and over the hills to where Palmdale and Lancaster was. In Santa Monica, the ubiquitous palm trees were clearly suffering from lack of water.

    Personal prediction – the concept of desertification and stripping all the green from even the well-off coastlines (save for the OC, since they are the FYIGM crowd) is going to be predominant. It’s a real shame, because being anywhere on the coast in CA used to be supremely pleasant, no matter what time of year it was. But living on the coast with a nice temperature – but absolutely no water to sustain vegetation – is going to lose its luster. I think.

    @TaMara (HFG): Written like someone who majored in literature. That article has less links / supporting evidence than a serious blog article 10+ years ago and enough flowery language to make a proper literature professor blush, given the subject at hand.

  21. 21.

    Mary G

    July 11, 2021 at 9:16 pm

    Astroturfers at work:

    Fight breaks out in Irvine at Katie Porter’s town hall. The man in the suit with the blue “America First” hat is Nicholas A. Taurus of Laguna Hills.

    Nick Taurus has a history of violent attacks on women and the eldery, including Yorba Linda on 26-Sep and Newport Beach on 18-Oct. https://t.co/vMxSp0ns4q pic.twitter.com/ZyuhOlIWY6
    — Chad Loder (@chadloder) July 11, 2021

    You mess with my sister, you mess with me. https://t.co/VegPTchVrj
    — Emily Porter, M.D. (@dremilyportermd) July 12, 2021

    Now would be a great time to donate so she can have enhanced security at her next town hall. And there WILL be another town hall. https://t.co/DHeyGYsRA0. Avoid Act Blue spam: Katie Porter for Congress PO BOX 5176 Irvine, CA 92616-5176
    — Emily Porter, M.D. (@dremilyportermd) July 12, 2021

    She gives her PO Box address so fans can avoid ActBlue spam! I love her!

  22. 22.

    MobiusKlein

    July 11, 2021 at 9:17 pm

    @Mary G: I remember that miracle year, as a student at UCSB.   The reservoirs north of Santa Barbara went from empty to full in a week or three.   Was in the early nineties – 1991?

  23. 23.

    MobiusKlein

    July 11, 2021 at 9:26 pm

    @PsiFighter37: I think it’s an error to look a climate change as binary success failure.  There is value is slowing it down, or even just spreading the change over a longer time.   Having the worst happen in 100 years, rather than 50 allows us more time to adapt.

  24. 24.

    brantl

    July 11, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    @Cermet: Nuclear power sucks, because there isn’t any good thing to do with the freaking waste. It’s not like you can toss it into the sun.

  25. 25.

    Starfish

    July 11, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    I saw this when you shared it this morning, and it was excellent. Also, a man from Colorado came in first on some leg of the Tour de France.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    July 11, 2021 at 9:33 pm

    @Cermet

    Not a new idea, it’s been kicking around since the 1960s, probably even prior to that, and is not without its own technical bugaboos as well as unique ongoing operational and maintenance costs.

  27. 27.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    July 11, 2021 at 9:36 pm

    @PsiFighter37: I hope I don’t *really* need to tell you, but those tags were modified to read “…except by consumer” because of that very concern. (That is: the retailers were forbidden to sell stuff without that tag – but once it was bought at retail, the government no longer gives a damn.)

    It is reminiscent of another old bit, about the misuse of an aerosol – I’m not sure if spray cans still warn that it’s “a violation of federal law” to use them other than as directed, but I remember them, and was tickled to see that it made it into Gone In 60 Seconds.

    I suppose it’s intended to discourage huffing, and it seems precisely as useful as those “PIRACY IS STEALING!” notices on DVDs. (I.e., only people who wouldn’t do it anyway are deterred.)

  28. 28.

    E.

    July 11, 2021 at 9:37 pm

    @MobiusKlein: But we aren’t adapting. What we are doing is running out the clock until our only options are certain death or Hail Mary geoengineering. Which will be researched and executed by the fossil fuel industry. Feel-good “every individual can do their little part” remonstrations are doing more harm than good.

  29. 29.

    Another Scott

    July 11, 2021 at 9:40 pm

    Interesting idea for the leather replacement, but cacti grow pretty slowly don’t they (yes, I haven’t read the article ;-)?

    California will be able to adjust to lack of water better than almost any place else on Earth, but it won’t be cheap. Desalination works but is expensive. Cheap solar will help, and driving down the cost of desalination will help the rest of the world.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    NotMax

    July 11, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    @Another Scott

    “Let them eat cake drink soda pop.”

    //

  31. 31.

    Starfish

    July 11, 2021 at 9:53 pm

    @E.: What are carbon emissions of stupid billionaires going into space just because they feel like it?

  32. 32.

    Steve in the ATL

    July 11, 2021 at 9:56 pm

    @NotMax:

    soda pop 

    MY EYES! MY EYES!

  33. 33.

    Mary G

    July 11, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    @PsiFighter37: I apologize. I did not know that you had lived in California, and was just responding to the two weeks without rain when you were here recently part of your post. You have a child; I hope you will keep doing whatever you can to make her future better.

  34. 34.

    PsiFighter37

    July 11, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    @MobiusKlein: There is, but predictions around the pace of it have been universally too conservative. Al Gore writing his book in the early 1990s might have been too late already. Given what is happening now, it is almost certainly too late to effectively mitigate what is happening. I have no doubt that a substantial migration out of California, and especially the parts of the Southwest that simply never got enough water to naturally sustain a population I(e.g. Vegas, Phoenix), is going to happen within my lifetime. Frankly, those are cities whose existences are hard to justify, even in non-climate change times.

  35. 35.

    E.

    July 11, 2021 at 10:03 pm

    @Another Scott: Desalination is devastating to the ocean and is very very far from able to supply the water we use for agriculture.

  36. 36.

    Poe Larity

    July 11, 2021 at 10:17 pm

    If enough young ones would move to water rich states and liberalhypnotize them, I could make some plans.

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    July 11, 2021 at 10:20 pm

    @E.:  Made me look.

    Yes, there are issues, and they’re important and need to be addressed. And that will drive up the costs.

    This seems to be a decent summary of the state of the art.

    Thanks!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    ilieitz

    July 11, 2021 at 10:23 pm

    Wish we could sent you some rain. I’m sick of it. I need to have some concrete work done at my house but because of the rain it’s not happening

  39. 39.

    Another Scott

    July 11, 2021 at 11:11 pm

    Another entry in the Some-People-Shouldn’t-Be-On-Twitter file:

    are you serious pic.twitter.com/em1WRZzl85

    — soul nate (@MNateShyamalan) July 9, 2020

    rofl.

    (via Popehat)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  40. 40.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 11, 2021 at 11:25 pm

    @Starfish: Man from Colorado has a name: Sepp Kuuss. He’s a very highly regarded bike racer.

  41. 41.

    MobiusKlein

    July 11, 2021 at 11:44 pm

    @E.: Even Hail Mary geo-engineering is easier with less CO2 in the atmosphere.  Not sure why damaging the atmosphere slower is controversial compared with doing nothing.

  42. 42.

    E.

    July 11, 2021 at 11:52 pm

    @MobiusKlein: The problem is not slowing the damage, the problem is letting people think they are doing something meaningful when vastly more integrated changes need to happen if we are to live.

  43. 43.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    July 11, 2021 at 11:59 pm

    I’m too lazy now to find links but there are also vegan leathers made from fungus.  Also, bricks and almost any molded products. IIRC, the mold is filled with a substrate and a certain fungus spore, the mycelium consumes and displaces the substrate.  Then there’s a hardening process but my memory is fuzzy there.

  44. 44.

    Martin

    July 12, 2021 at 1:13 am

    @Cermet: The main problems with nuclear aren’t technical – they are logistical. A new reactor takes a decade to get online, and frankly, we don’t really have a decade to wait on it. Plus, the permitting and financing aren’t easy and are highly centralized.

    One of the biggest benefits of solar is that it’s a permissionless innovation, or damn close to one. I can finance my own renewables and only need two easy permits – one from my city, and one from my utility, and both are required to grant them provided we meet code. That means not relying on a handful of centralized agents, who will be lobbied and politicized, and instead on something on the order of 100 million households who can all act independently. That kind of decentralization means we can move fast, cut through the finance issues, and avoid the folks that want to stand in our way.

    Our school districts all built out solar on local financing. It’s now part of their revenue stream. It doesn’t us all the way there, but the carbon component of power is shrinking fast in places like CA. years ago, only 15% of CAs emissions were from power generation. My understanding is that it’s under 12% now.

    41% of emissions is cars and trucks. All we really need to do is continue to scale out existing renewables in the fastest mode available, and seriously shift our focus to transportation. Electrified rail, electric bus rapid transit, removing cars from urban centers in favor of bikes and walking. BEVs where those solutions aren’t ideal. Mainly, stop subsidizing cars, fuel, roads, and start subsidizing mass transit. Trains should be free, roads should have tolls once the transit is in place.

  45. 45.

    Dan B

    July 12, 2021 at 2:42 am

    @Martin: Excellent points.  One of my concerns about nuclear is that even the small nukes are still more centralized and dependent upon rent seeking and large fixed networks that are inflexible.  We need nimble and able to adapt rapidly to changing conditions.  Climate chaos may cause mass migration and economic hardship.  How do large investments in transmission lines return on their massive investment?

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