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Don't eat your pet! Real ways to reduce your animal's carbon footprint
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The book, "Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide To Sustainable Living"
Pet lovers around the world were shocked this summer when a couple of New Zealand professors released a book, suggesting pet owners consume their animals in an effort to reduce their carbon "pawprint" on the world. In "Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide To Sustainable Living", Brenda and Robert Vale, winners of a United Nations award for Environmental Achievement, make the case for using as few resources as possible, in every part of our lives.
But the piece of research that really caught the public's attention has to do with pets. The Vale's say their research shows a medium-size dog has a carbon print equal to two Toyota Land Cruisers. A cat, according to the Vale's, has the same impact on the environment as a Volkswagen Golf, and two hamsters equal a plasma TV. Then the Vale's suggest people switch to keeping pets they can eat, such as chickens and goats, in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of the world.
For most pet owners I know, that solution is not practical. You can't cuddle with a chicken or goat, teach them tricks, or take them to the park for playtime. But the book does make the average pet owner think-how much is your animal friend impacting the environment, and is there anything you can do, besides turning Fido into dinner, to reduce your furry friends carbon impact?
The answer is yes, and the ways to go about it are pretty simple.
The first starts with food. Feeding your cat or dog raw food reduces the energy used to process pet food. Proponents also saw a raw diet results in a healthier pet and can reduce the size of pet waste. If you're not comfortable with that, take a careful look at your pet food package and try to buy brands which list the meat (beef, lamb, chicken or fish) as the first ingredient, rather than a by-product.
Recycling is another easy step pet owners can take. Buy products which include as little packaging as possible and make sure cans of dog food and plastic food bags don't end up in the landfill.
Switch to stainless steel or ceramic food and water bowls to reduce the production of plastics and stop using those plastic grocery bags to pick up your pet's poo. Instead, opt for bags made of biodegradable products. A pack of 100 bags from Poopbags.com costs around $20. Biobag USA also makes a line of waste bags that start at $7.50 a package and are sold at most major pet stores.
Kitty litter is a big source of landfill waste. You can help by adding shredded newspaper or wood chips to the mix, to reduce the amount you use and eventually dump.
Finally, switch to "green" pet toys. Petside.com has a great list here.
Most of these changes are easy to manage, affordable, and will leave the world a better place for future pets and their owners.
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