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Morrissey Pens Letter to General Motors CEO Calling for Vegan Leather in Cars

Ahead of his concert tomorrow night in Detroit, Morrissey has written a letter to General Motors CEO Mary Barra, asking the company to offer vegan-leather interiors for their Chevrolet Volt and Bolt models. The letter comes a week after PETA released a video showing the brutal conditions at the cattle ranches in Brazil that supply GM, Toyota, and Volkswagen with their leather. Read the full letter below.

Mary T Barra
Chair and CEO
General Motors Company

21 November 2016

Dear Ms Barra,

As I head to Detroit to play the Royal Oak Music Theatre, I’m writing to ask GM to make Chevy’s Volt and Bolt more eco-friendly by giving buyers the option to choose vegan leather interiors–including steering wheels and gear shifts. GM is named in PETA’s brand-new investigation of cattle ranches, on which animals are branded on the face, electro-shocked, and beaten before they’re slaughtered and used to make leather interiors for car companies, including yours.

More and more people are opting for vegan leather for the sake of both cows and the environment. A staggering 51 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture. Animal skins also have to be treated with a toxic soup of chemicals in order to keep them from decomposing, and runoff from leather tanneries poisons vital waterways.

Given that the Volt and Bolt are being marketed to eco-conscious buyers, entirely vegan options would only broaden their appeal. I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Morrissey

[Pitchfork]