Thanks to Al Gore and other various scaremongers for global warming (not that it isn’t an imminent issue) we as a society have become well acquainted with the term “Carbon Footprint” as we are constantly told of how our actions have a direct effect on the carbon emissions into the environment..
The obvious culprits of high carbon emissions are :
- SUVs
- Cattle (methane)
- Oil Refineries
- International Trade
- Large Corporate Factories
- Etc
But one serious contributor to high carbon emissions may be laying in bed next to you at this very moment….!!
No I’m not talking about your gassy spouse, but rather your family pet!
It’s true, your family dog places a serious carbon pawprint on the environment, in fact, studies show that over their life span, having domestic animal is worse (emission wise) than owning an SUV!
Here are some interesting quotes that came from the article I read on the BBC news site:
“The authors [of the book "Time to Eat Your Dog"] claim that keeping a medium-sized dog has the same ecological impact as driving a 4.6 litre Land Cruiser 10,000km a year.
They use a rather unusual method of calculating environmental impact.
Instead of measuring emissions of CO2, or CO2 equivalent, they calculate the literal footprint or “global hectare” (gha) – the amount of land it takes to support a given activity.
So they work out that constructing and driving the Land Cruiser for a year takes 0.41 gha.
Growing and manufacturing the 164kg of meat and 95kg of cereals a border collie or cocker spaniel eats every year takes about 0.84 gha.
A bigger dog such as a German shepherd consumes even more – its pawprint is more like 1.1 gha.” -BBC Article
The most environmentally friendly animals include: Hamsters, Cats, and Birds. But the most carbon efficient animal is the goldfish!
The best way to solve the problem with your domestic dog’s carbon emissions?! Eat it!! (so the article suggests) This is real sustainability folks!
And HERE is a recipe for Dog stew… for any of you die-hard environmentalists that want to jump on the train to reduce carbon emissions (though I do not endorse eating your family dog by any means)
