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by Nicole Tutino-

Fashion brands’ selection of materials for their apparel designs impacts the environment through the extraction of raw materials and through apparel production. 

Authentic leather is derived from animal skin. According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the tanning process the skin endures to become a leather material results in the release of harmful waste, including “salt, lime sludge, sulfides and acids” into the environment. 

PETA notes cows are the usual source of leather; however, other animals, like pigs, sheep and crocodiles can also be sources. A cow releases “between 154 to 264 pounds of methane gas per year,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Southeast New England Program (SNEP). Methane — a greenhouse gas — comprises about 30% of global climate change, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Recently, brands have been experimenting with unconventional alternatives to leather, called vegan leather, to reduce their environmental impacts. Vegan leather can be derived from polyurethane, a synthetic plastic material. However, sustainable options include bio-based materials, like fruit waste.

Leather and leather alternatives can be used to create various products within the fashion industry; handbags often use this material.

Copenhagen’s Fashion Week for autumn/winter 2023 required brands to adhere to numerous sustainability guidelines to qualify for participation. During the show, ready-to-wear brand GANNI presented a handbag composed of a vegan leather material constructed from orange and cacti waste and recycled plastic, called Ohoskin.

Ohoskin, an Italian fabric company, claims their bio-based vegan leather reduces their carbon emissions by 90%. Carbon dioxide remains a major greenhouse gas contributor to global warming.

Although Ohoskin features polyvinyl chloride — a synthetic material — the plastic used is recycled.

Known for luxury sustainable and ethical designs, the Stella McCartney brand partnered with Bolt Threads to create a handbag composed from a fungi-based leather, called Mylo. The Mylo vegan leather begins with mycelium, the foundation for mushrooms. 

Mansur Gavriel, a luxury handbag and shoe brand, announced a new bucket bag featuring  recycled apple skin to imitate leather. The brand states the bag is waterproof which increases its usage opportunities. The brand included additional materials in the bag’s creation, such as polyurethane, polyester and cotton, which raises sustainability concerns.

Vegan leather products can include polyurethane, which is a synthetic material produced using fossil fuel resources. Non-renewable resources, like fossil fuels, contradict sustainability’s main goals. 

While concerns over vegan leather exist, brands’ exploration of plant-based materials allows a lower-impact alternative to traditional leather production. 

Since leather is used in other fields, such as upholstery, sustainable vegan leather can expand beyond fashion.

by Noah Hayden –

^{Photo: Noah Hayden}

Drone racing has been around for nearly 12 years. The sport is a mix between video games and traditional racing sports. The pilot wears a pair of low-profile FPV goggles while controlling a handheld drone that flies up to 120 miles per hour. 

When the sport was initially created in 2011, there was hope that it would become the “sport of the future.” Today, many spectators are seeing that dream become a reality as the sport is reaching new heights in popularity. In fact, the sport doubled its global broadcast reach last year. 

There are many national and local clubs with a passion for drone racing around the world. Virginia Tech is no exception as it has its own club, the VT Drone Racing Team. Despite the overwhelming amount of popularity, the sport has gained over just the last few years, the VT Drone Racing Team has not experienced the same boom.

The VT Drone Racing team experienced a multitude of hiccups over the past couple of years, one of which being Covid-19. “It was just kind of unfortunate that we really couldn’t recruit people from my freshmen year until this year,” said senior and president of the drone racing team, Sean Vredevoogd. “Post covid, we had about five active members.”

The lack of attention that the club was getting from its members also made it difficult to recruit new students even after the heat of the pandemic had passed. “We couldn’t give any of the new members the attention they deserved,” said Vredevoogd. “However, at the last Gobblerfest, we worked hard to prepare for an influx of around 20-25 new members.”

Even though the club met with an influx of new members just last fall, only about 13-14 members consistently participate in club activities. Much of the reason for this is due to how expensive the sport is. According to Benjamin Sawyer from Droneblogs.com, drone racing can cost between $300-$500 initially. Over time, the sport may cost thousands of dollars. 

“Parts break all the time,” said Vredevoogd. “It’s not very feasible to ask Virginia Tech to fund some of our equipment because it breaks so often.” Despite all of those reasons to stop, members continue to fuel their passion.

“It’s simple; there is just nothing like flying these,” said Vredevoogd. “The speed and the maneuverability, it’s just the most open and connecting flying experience.

by Jordan Meadows-

Four people on death row have been executed in the United States in 2023. The executions took place in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and two in Texas. 

In 2021, Virginia became the 23rd state – and first southern state – to ban the death penalty. Virginia has carried out almost 1400 executions since its inception, more than any other state in history. 

A state senator in Virginia, Bill Desteph (R-VA Beach), has proposed legislation that would restore capital punishment. The legislation states that the death penalty could be used when there is “the willful, deliberate and premeditated killing of a law enforcement officer when such killing is for the purpose of interfering with the performance of his official duties.” 

The bill is likely to fail in committee as Democrats hold a majority in the state senate. 

One in eight people on death row is eventually exonerated at the federal level. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, in the last 50 years, almost 200 people have been exonerated. In most of these cases, wrongful convictions arose from erroneous eyewitness identifications, false and coerced confessions, inadequate legal defense and more. 

In 2018, 79% of all homicide exonerations were due to misconduct on the part of the police or the prosecution – or both. That number grows to 87% for Black exonerees. Black Americans account for 41% of people on death row and 34% of those executed. 

There has been a multitude of instances where individuals with mental disabilities and children have been executed – ultimately banned by the Supreme Court in 2002 and 2005, respectively. 

Capital punishment costs taxpayers more than if they had non-capital punishment. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2020, the average time between someone being sentenced and executed was 18.9 years. During this time, the government is required to provide resources and funding for people on death row, such as the attorney. 

23 people are scheduled to be executed in five different states this year. One state, Ohio, has scheduled inmates to be executed in 2026. President Joe Biden is the first president to publicly oppose the death penalty but has taken no major steps to that end. 

By: Ryan Schork

The online boycott of the highly anticipated video game, Hogwarts: Legacy, seems to have backfired as it reaches the pinnacle of purchased charts. Even more impressive, the game hasn’t even been released to players yet. Hogwarts: Legacy is set to release on Feb. 10, 2023, yet players have pre-purchased the game at such a high volume that it is currently the number-one-selling game.

Hogwarts: Legacy, a game based around the world of Harry Potter, came under fire recently because of insensitive tweets by the author of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter is the most successful book series of all time, with over 500 million copies sold. Furthermore, Rowling is the first author in history to become a billionaire, according to Guinness World Records.  

Rowling has a history of controversy, mainly on Twitter, due to her tweets and overall views of the transgender movement. Rowling has been labeled as a “TERF” which stands for a trans-exclusionary radical feminist. The Hogwarts: Legacy website claims that Rowling was not involved in the game’s production. However, fans are still calling for the boycott as she is sure to gain financially from its success.

After a litany of tweets from Rowling, fans rushed to Twitter to voice their anger with the author and called for a complete boycott of the game. Furthermore, many fans reached out to popular Twitch streamers, asking them to not play or broadcast the gameplay to their fans out of respect for the transgender community. Many Twitch streamers have also taken to Twitter, calling for fellow streamers to also boycott the game. However, this reaction has not been held by most, as the loss of exposure and revenue would be detrimental to their careers.  

However, nothing is as it seems on the internet. The boycott seems to have backfired as sales started to skyrocket after the news broke about said boycott. Currently, Hogwarts Legacy is at the top spot of purchased games on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. Whether the spike in sales is genuine backlash from players due to the boycott, or if it is simply because the game is highly anticipated is unclear. Some fans of the series have developed a conspiracy theory that the whole fiasco was a marketing ploy, though this is only speculation.

As the release date for Hogwarts: Legacy approaches, fans are divided on the ethics of buying and playing the game. For longtime fans of the Harry Potter series, the game seems like a dream come true that has now become a nightmare of controversy. While covered in drama and controversy, Hogwarts: Legacy will be played by millions of people around the world.