This happens every time one of these threads comes up.

Huge portions of rich farmland are set aside to grow Monsanto GM corn, then Petroleum-based pesticides are sprayed on the corn, which are then fed to poorly treated, factory-farmed animals whose waste is hugely polluting to local ground waters and our rivers. Meanwhile, the nitrogen-rich fertilizer (required to grow feed-grade corn season after season) runs off into our rivers, where it floats down stream into the ocean, causing massive "dead-zones," which are seriously threatening a number of plant and animal species with extinction. All of this in ignoring the astonishing amount of energy required to raise one cow from birth to slaughter, as well as the disgusting and dangerous chemicals used in tanning leather.

People continue to act like leather saddles are plucked from the ****ing Saddle Tree, while synthetics come from the Once-ler. At best, the difference between the types of material used to cover your saddle is negligible, and claims to the contrary are wholly without merit.