Do you think pets are environment’s worst enemies?
Written by: Admin
The book “Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living” by Robert and Brenda Vale from New Zealand has irked many pet owners.
The book reported that medium size dog produces two times the amount carbon footprint produced by 4×4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car.
Cat’s carbon footprint is slightly less than driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year. The carbon footprint of two hamsters is similar to a plasma television. And my favorite pet, goldfish is responsible to burn energy equivalent to two mobile telephones.
According to these findings, pets are portrayed as environment’s worst enemies. Do you agree with the findings? Please post your comments here!
Source: physorg
December 27th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
people are what’s bad for the environment. if it weren’t for the human race, we wouldn’t have air pollution or any other environmental issues such as garbage & waste, litter on the side of the road, global warming, etc. pets are not the problem. people are the problem!
December 27th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Annie, Bang on! You are absolutely right. People are making the mess and trying to find others to blame. It’s very typical for humans to blame others than look little closely to themselves. If we try to improve even a little bit, it can be a great help the environment. These people are blaming pets, who can not even defend themselves. What bunch of….
December 27th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
No
December 27th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
No, animal are not , people are, we should get rid of some people.
December 27th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
We should get rid of the bad people like the authors
December 27th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
This author definatly has something wrong with her if she thinks pets are the problem
Just think of the waste of trees when all her books end up in the trash where they belong.
December 27th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
It is really sad to think that there are people in this world who actually believe this kind of tripe. The only global problem mankind is actually responsible for is overpopulation. We should be focusing on population reduction. Let’s start with the enviro-freaks…
December 27th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
No.
Without seeing the math I can’t point out the specific problem but our barn cats certainly save us from using pesticides to protect our grains, other than spaying/neutering and vaccinations the three barn cats take little resources, they eat the organ meats no one else wants from the butcher’s when they need supplements to what they hunt in the barn. They provide companionship and love to the humans (and research shows that they lower blood pressure so they are saving me $$$ medical bills). The cats play an important role in an organic farm/ranch.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Hilarious that people would think pets are the problem when the people who own them are probably eating cheeseburgers and driving where they could walk. The logic used against pets is primarily to do with their food production, and goes hand-in-hand with veg*n arguments against meat for environmental reasons. The main difference here is that the human problem is far, far bigger than the pet one.
Hint: There’s organic, local foods for pets, too. And not all pets eat meat.
December 28th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I wish there were more science and less sensational tripe to these articles and books. Yes, let’s be honest, owning pets does consume some resources. However, how does that carbon footprint measure up to having children? I know my rescue pets are a substitute for having kids, I freely admit it. But I figure by not breeding and walking daily to keep everyone properly exercised, my carbon footprint is far lower than most in the US. Also, there are intangibles that just can’t be measured easily. The bond I have with my dogs makes me care deeply about all life on this planet, so that I think and vote and purchase items with a deeply environmental perspective.
December 29th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I think animals are NOT the problem. It depends on how the owner cares for them. There are biodegradable doggie bags, local & organic pet food, accessories made out of recycled material, etc. etc.. It’s the owners choice to make their pets “green” or not.
January 1st, 2010 at 10:53 am
I must agree with Ciana. The pet (animals) themselves have been around for just as long as us humans have. However, the animals we care for as pets are being mass bred in puppy mills (b/c of humans), given non-biodegradable toys (by humans), provided with food made of food that is not from sustainable resources or farms (to save on cost because humans feel they can’t afford it – yet they can get a dog…)
It’s our decisions that impact the footprint of our pets…
June 19th, 2010 at 2:03 am
This writing is made up of some quite engrossing info that one hardly ever finds out. And the point made is unavoidable – though in my eyes i cannot realize why this type of shift in attitude .