For a number of months, Morrissey has been unusually quiet from his usual political rants. As a matter of fact, it has been quite boring around those parts.
Currently on tour in North America, the singer was recently forced to call off his Denver show when the band’s keyboard player became ill and had to be hospitalized. Morrissey considers his band and crew “family” and won’t move forward if one is in distress. That has now caused his shows in Detroit, Chicago and El Paso to be moved to next month.
Morrissey did, however, have time to write an open letter to Mary Berra, the Chairman and CEO of General Motors asking that they stop using natural leather in their cars, especially the eco-friendly Volt and Bolt. Instead, he would like to see vegan leather used, a material that is normally made from polyurethane but can also be cork or kelp-based.
Morrissey wrote:
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