Save The Planet?

[Balloon guy 158]

Story

The eco-pawprint of a pet dog is twice that of a 4.6-litre Land Cruiser driven 10,000 kilometres a year, researchers have found.Victoria University professors Brenda and Robert Vale, architects who specialise in sustainable living, say pet owners should swap cats and dogs for creatures they can eat, such as chickens or rabbits, in their provocative new book Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living.The couple have assessed the carbon emissions created by popular pets, taking into account the ingredients of pet food and the land needed to create them."If you have a German shepherd or similar-sized dog, for example, its impact every year is exactly the same as driving a large car around," Brenda Vale said."A lot of people worry about having SUVs but they don't worry about having Alsatians and what we are saying is, well, maybe you should be because the environmental impact ... is comparable."In a study published in New Scientist, they calculated a medium dog eats 164 kilograms of meat and 95kg of cereals every year. It takes 43.3 square metres of land to produce 1kg of chicken a year. This means it takes 0.84 hectares to feed Fido.They compared this with the footprint of a Toyota Land Cruiser, driven 10,000km a year, which uses 55.1 gigajoules (the energy used to build and fuel it). One hectare of land can produce 135 gigajoules a year, which means the vehicle's eco-footprint is 0.41ha – less than half of the dog's.They found cats have an eco-footprint of 0.15ha – slightly less than a Volkswagen Golf.

Next time some global warming nut gets on me I am going to tell them that I kill cats to do my part for the environment.

[sandwedge 30]

Maybe I'll downsize to a Civic, so I can at least have a pet hamster.

[SBriand 4]

Yikes, I have a cat and used to have a Golf GTI. Oops.But I recycle and my electricity comes from wind power and now I drive a civic. I am keeping the cat.

[hank213 1,824]

What if I "become" a serial killer? Do I get carbon swap credits for everybody I've killed I would kill?

[nutzbuster 7]

You'll have to pry my cats from my cold dead hands...

[bigcash 0]

You'll have to pry my cats from my cold dead hands...

what will they think of next? Geez

[colonel Feathers 5]

Maybe in light of this new information, it may be time to step back and take a refreshing new look into the whole Michael Vick affair.

[HollywoodAFD 0]

This is ummmm.... wow.Also..... it's snowed in Texas twice this week. There has NEVER been measurable snow on Christmas in the DFW area and it has NEVER snowed on December 29 in the DFW area....until this year.Al Gore is full of shit with all that global warming crap.I know it was a bit off topic....but it's been slow in here lately.

[mtdesmoines 2]

I have a big dog, a big SUV, and two feet of snow on the ground and have noted that we have just seen a decade of declining temperatures. I also remember Jimmy Carter telling us (when I was a kid) that we were supposed to put on sweaters and the oil would be gone in 15 years (20 at most). I also remember that we were supposedly entering a new ice age: http://denisdutton.com/newsweek_coolingworld.pdfI'm an environmentalist. I hate pollution and I have spent half my career working on environmental issues. But global warming is a worldwide political scam.

[chrozzo 19]

i blame Al Gore.

[loogie 115]

That is some interesting stuff, for sure. What if you tie your large dog to a tree for most of the time? Does that help things?I've never thought of SUV's as being a huge problem when it comes to the environment. However, those factories that are constantly pumping scientists-know-what into the sky can't be a good thing.

Also..... it's snowed in Texas twice this week. There has NEVER been measurable snow on Christmas in the DFW area and it has NEVER snowed on December 29 in the DFW area....until this year.Al Gore is full of shit with all that global warming crap.

Climate is not the same thing as weather. Glaciers are melting. How are the glaciers in Texas doing?

[HollywoodAFD 0]

That is some interesting stuff, for sure. What if you tie your large dog to a tree for most of the time? Does that help things?I've never thought of SUV's as being a huge problem when it comes to the environment. However, those factories that are constantly pumping scientists-know-what into the sky can't be a good thing.Climate is not the same thing as weather. Glaciers are melting. How are the glaciers in Texas doing?

I have one in my swimming pool right now..... first time ever.What if we, and by we I mean someone else, come up with an SUV that can run on dog shit. That would have to cancel out the pet footprint and lesson the SUV one as well if we determine that dog shit emits less harmful hydrocarbons than gas does.How hard could it be?

[Canuckickstan 2]

Didn't like it. Too tough.

[chrozzo 19]

i think this thread is complete bshii didnt really read it tho..but it sounded a lot like a peta thread so i ignored it...whos with me?

[brvheart 1,768]

That is some interesting stuff, for sure. What if you tie your large dog to a tree for most of the time? Does that help things?

I love this idea. My dogs are getting tied to a tree all day tomorrow.

[mrdannyg 274]

The study does not appear to take into consideration important aspects. For instance, if we eat or murder our dogs, how much pollution would be caused by the factories who have to fill extra orders for all the hammers and rope?What about better filtration systems as tens of thousands of dog carcasses, buried by amateurs, start seeping into our drinking water?Plus, then we'd have dogs to blame for unemployment, since all the workers are those dog food factories would be unemployed.

[leftygolfer 7]

Didn't like it. Tasted like chicken.

[Randy Reed 0]

I'm looking for a good Labradoodle recipe. Anyone?

[BaseJester 1]

This doesn't really pass the dumbass test.It's going to cost around a thousand dollars per year to fuel the SUV.10,000km * 1 gal/15 mile * 0.6214 mile / km * $2.50 / gal = $ 1036The example dog eats a pound of meat per day, which seems excessive to me. I figure on spending less than $2 / day or ~ $700 per year on my dog's food. The cost to produce an item has to include all of its energy costs and oil is cheaper energy than dog food. (If not, install a dog food burner to heat your house.)We haven't even touched on the energy costs to manufacture the vehicle yet. Stupid scientists.

[brvheart 1,768]

This doesn't really pass the dumbass test.It's going to cost around a thousand dollars per year to fuel the SUV.10,000km * 1 gal/15 mile * 0.6214 mile / km * $2.50 / gal = $ 1036The example dog eats a pound of meat per day, which seems excessive to me. I figure on spending less than $2 / day or ~ $700 per year on my dog's food. The cost to produce an item has to include all of its energy costs and oil is cheaper energy than dog food. (If not, install a dog food burner to heat your house.)We haven't even touched on the energy costs to manufacture the vehicle yet. Stupid scientists.

We're talking about the costs to the planet, not the wallet. THE GLACIERS ARE MELTING AND THE POLAR BEARS ARE GETTING TIRED!!!

[Balloon guy 158]

Pretty sure if we can train our dogs to eat 2 cats a day they will be carbon neutral.Probably easier than training a cat to eat one dog a day.

[irishguy 14]

my line of SAVE THE PLANET EAT PUSSY t-shirts might really take off now!

[BaseJester 1]

We're talking about the costs to the planet, not the wallet.

I understand that. I don't think you read my whole post.

[mrdannyg 274]

I understand that. I don't think you read my whole post.

I would've disagreed with you, but since the researchers share a surname, I consider their research of equal quality to the napkin math of a random internet poster.Carry on.