You probably think you’re at peace with nature when you take a stroll outside with your new hiking shoes. What you don’t know is that there is a load of carbon packed in them. The material accountable for this is the leather. Researchers found that the results of each pair of their shoes ranged from 22 to 220 pounds of carbon. The reason for this is because they waterproof, degrease, and dye the leather which gives off a lot of carbon dioxide. Instead of buying new shoes every other month, try to regularly clean them and add jelly insoles if pieces of leather start to tear. Also, throwing away your old shoes gives off even more carbon. The compressing of the leather at trash locations releases the last bits of carbon still remaining in the leather. 

There are many ways to help the environment with shoes. For example, you can take shoes that are too old or no longer fit you and transform them into cute and unique pencil holders. You can place the shoes vertically and stick them onto a wall and keep pencils, pens, etc. neat and accessible. There’s another great example I  personally love. I re-use old shoes and help with adding oxygen into the world is by using my old shoes as plant pots. Plants are known to take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. I place soil into my old shoes and plant a few seeds. From there I regularly water the plants and put them in a position where there is enough sunlight. In a few weeks I’ll have grown plants that are helping hands, or should I say helping feet, in the environment.