Photo: Evan Kirby (Unsplash)

We're getting to that time of year when people start reaching for their fur coats. It's a dark and unfortunate time when people cave to vanity, egotism, and peer pressure as they strut about in what is, quite literally, the corpse of an animal. In reality, unless you are an indigenous person who relies on the fur of animals for survival, you really don't need to be wearing it. Somewhere along the line, people convinced themselves that taking fur from an animal was like a haircut, or they simply stopped caring about the freedom and lives of living, feeling beings because a piece of clothing is more important. It's in this season that people really show their worst.

This isn't about pushing an alternative belief or ideology, it's about pulling off the rose-tinted lenses that society puts over our eyes when it comes to the things that we buy. People make purchases every day, not interested in how the product was made, whether or not it was made with child labor, or if the production hurts other living beings. We contribute to the destruction of the planet every day without even knowing it.

You might be wondering what all of this has to do with fur. Well, ask yourself some important questions. Do you actually know what the fur industry looks like behind closed doors? Have you seen the conditions the animals are kept in and how their fur is taken from them? If you've answered yes, good for you for educating yourself. If you answered no, then you're, unfortunately, one among far too many who have been desensitized to violence against animals.

Here is what the fur industry really looks like:

Before they're killed, animals in the industry are confined to tiny cages, where they often live in their own excrement. The animals suffer both physical and psychological trauma from being deprived of what all living beings need to thrive, like freedom to access food and water, space to move, companionship, sunlight, and more. Their behaviors, such as pacing back and forth for hours on end, show immense suffering. It's all clear in the video above. If you can't watch the video, ask yourself why. Unfortunately, sometimes we as human beings need to see suffering in order for it to become real for us.

The fur industry doesn't care about animals, not in the least. In fact, if you think there's even a sliver of compassion in this industry or that animals are treated with even the most minimal decency, the industry has you fooled.

This season, challenge yourself to consciously care about other living beings and to show it. Stop living a life that harms other beings, otherwise, you make it totally justifiable for the universe to then send you harm and bad things. As they say, do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. In other words, you wouldn't want someone pulling your hair out and wearing your skin, so maybe don't do the same to something else.

There are too many alternatives and faux furs for people to be empowering an industry that enslaves, tortures, and slaughters animals. Check out lists like: 18 Reasons You Need A Faux Fur Coat This Winter (Teen Vogue), 20 Chicest Faux Fur Coats Under $100 (Seventeen), and The 10 Best Faux Fur Coats To Shop For Fall (Glamour). This is only a tiny list of alternatives to fur and down. The Internet is full of so much more—and, of course, you could always go out shopping IRL.

I don't think it's asking a lot to challenge people to not pay to kill other animals. I also don't think it's too much to ask people to give up the capitalist, fashion-inspired sense of elitism that they get from wearing fur. Spoiler alert: no one really thinks you're a cool or great person because you wear fur and because celebrities and rich people wear fur. For the most part, people just think you're greedy and bougie.