Polluting pets: the devastating impact of man's best friend

[Sporkman]

PARIS (AFP) – Man's best friend could be one of the environment's worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle...

"Owning a dog really is quite an extravagance, mainly because of the carbon footprint of meat," Barrett said.

Other animals aren't much better for the environment, the Vales say.

Cats have an eco-footprint of about 0.15 hectares, slightly less than driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year, while two hamsters equates to a plasma television and even the humble goldfish burns energy equivalent to two mobile telephones...

Likewise, dogs decrease biodiversity in areas they are walked, while their faeces cause high bacterial levels in rivers and streams, making the water unsafe to drink, starving waterways of oxygen and killing aquatic life.

And cat poo can be even more toxic than doggy doo -- owners who flush their litter down the toilet ultimately infect sea otters and other animals with toxoplasma gondii, which causes a killer brain disease. ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091220/sc_afp/lifestyleclimatewarminganimalsfood

[alphaniner]

the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle...

And yet somehow, I doubt we will see the day when pooches get hated on as hard as SUVs by the go-green-goons.

[Sporkman]

And yet somehow, I doubt we will see the day when pooches get hated on as hard as SUVs by the go-green-goons.

Though you must also consider relative benefits... SUVs are usually unnecessary extravagances, as a mid-size sedan or station wagon would work just as well for most people. Pets, on the other hand, are theraputic & have concrete health and social benefits.

[koleoptero]

I totally agree. We should kill all the animals for the sake of the environment.

[FuturePilot]

*facepalm*

[RiceMonster]

I totally agree. We should kill all the animals for the sake of the environment.

I lol'd

[DarkLilith]

Wow, I never realized dogs polluted so much! I think it would be much easier to make people get rid of their SUV's though, considering the way some people treat their dogs like children (or better sometimes). I also agree with the fact that many people have pets for therapeutic reasons, I always like having a fluffy creature to pet when I'm upset!

koleoptero: Your avatar made me lmao. Awesome.

[pricetech]

Better yet, let's kill all the humans.

[DarkLilith]

Better yet, let's kill all the humans.

lol, this is possibly not such a bad idea XD

[pwnst*r]

Better yet, let's kill all the humans.

k, you first.

[benj1]

Though you must also consider relative benefits... SUVs are usually unnecessary extravagances, as a mid-size sedan or station wagon would work just as well for most people. Pets, on the other hand, are theraputic & have concrete health and social benefits.

i disagree, pets are unnecessary extravagances (unless youre blind, a shepherd, or are planning on eating them), at least cars have an actual use, and i find driving a lot more therapeutic than animals, im not sure what the social benefits are that youre referring to, so i cant really disagree with that.

ps im not pro pollution, i just cant see the point in investing emotional energy in something lower down the food chain.

[benj1]

Better yet, let's kill all the humans.

hey youre just a dog placed here to ferment rebellion :P

[JDShu]

Better yet, let's kill all the humans.

Would that not defeat the purposes of saving the planet, which is to ensure our race's survival?

[sailthesea]

Would that not defeat the purposes of saving the planet, which is to ensure our race's survival?

Planet Earth will get along just fine without us!:)

[Eisenwinter]

Global warming is a hoax designed to eventually pass a law which will require all people to pay a tax for breathing.

If global warming really concerned those in power, why aren't they looking for environmentally-friendly alternatives to oil? Why do they not do anything about forests being cut down at an increased rate?

It's all ********.

[JDShu]

Planet Earth will get along just fine without us!:)

Exactly ;) We however, will not be fine without Earth.

[pricetech]

hey youre just a dog placed here to ferment rebellion :P

No I'm (pauses to scratch fleas) not.

[lisati]

Yet another variant of the stuff that suggests that farting cows are a manmade problem.........

[Sporkman]

Yet another variant of the stuff that suggests that farting cows are a manmade problem.........

Who else bred all those farting cows?

As a greenhouse gas, methane make CO2 look like a wuss...

[lisati]

Who else bred all those farting cows?

As a greenhouse gas, methane make CO2 look like a wuss...

Wasn't me.... it must have been the dog. :)

[Sporkman]

Wasn't me.... :)

Do you eat beef, or wear any leather products?

[alphaniner]

Yet another variant of the stuff that suggests that farting cows are a manmade problem.........

Was that story about taxing livestock farts in NZ true?

[lisati]

Was that story about taxing livestock farts in NZ true?

There was some talk about it, but it fell through.

[blur xc]

Planet Earth will get along just fine without us!:)


How does "Planet Earth" care if we exist? How does it care if we cease to exist? How can it care if we pollute it? It's a ball of dirt. It has not feelings, no emotion, no thought. If we polluted life on earth out of existence, new life would just evolve to take our places. There have been (according to science) at least a handful of "sterilization events" in the history of our planet, so so what if the next one is caused by man and not an asteroid? Or a solar event? Or whatever...

BM

[Georgia boy]

I read that article this morning. Are they going to start killing us and eat us also to save on their greenhouse effect? I agree that the blaming all of global warming on mankind is bunch of ****. Most of what is happening is natural. Wasn't there some kind of hack into someones system not too long ago on this showing that it was a bunch of crap?

Tom

[Groucho Marxist]

And yet somehow, I doubt we will see the day when pooches get hated on as hard as SUVs by the go-green-goons.

Exactly; they're too busy figuring out how to market sales of 21st century indulgences as "Carbon Taxes."

[Hwæt]

If global warming really concerned those in power, why aren't they looking for environmentally-friendly alternatives to oil? Why do they not do anything about forests being cut down at an increased rate?

Bribery, oh I'm sorry I mean, "campaign contributions" from the petroleum and logging companies.

[handy]

Better yet, let's kill all the humans.

We seem to be in the process already...