Eat Your Dog....

JJ_BPK · 10-23-2009, 06:23

Leave it to the Kiwi's

Your dog has a bigger carbon foot print than your SUV...

Al Gore eat your dog,, better yet,, eat Tipper and the dog...

Quote:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33429555/

Owning a Pet Worse than Driving a SUV — Carbonwise, Thursday, 22 Oct 2009, By: Reuters

They're faithful, friendly and furry — but under their harmless, fluffy exteriors, dogs and cats, the world's most popular house pets, use up more energy resources in a year than driving a car, a new book says.

In their book "Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living", New Zealand-based architects Robert and Brenda Vale say keeping a medium-sized dog has the same ecological impact as driving 10,000 km (6,213 miles) a year in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser.

These adorable eyes require a hectare of land for food, according to two authors.

Calculating that the modern Fido chows through about 164 kg of meat and 95 kg of cereals a year, the Vales estimated the ecological footprint of cats and dogs, based on the amount of land needed to grow common brands of pet food.

"There are no recipes in the book," Robert Vale told Reuters, laughingly, in a telephone interview. "We're not actually saying it is time to eat the dog. We're just saying that we need to think about and know the (ecological) impact of some of the things we do and that we take for granted."

Constructing and driving the jeep for a year requires 0.41 hectares of land, while growing and manufacturing a dog's food takes about 0.84 ha — or 1.1 ha in the case of a large dog such as a German shepherd.

Meat-eating swells the eco-footprint of canines, and felines are not that much better, the Vales found.

The average cat's eco-footprint, 0.15 ha, weighs in at slightly less than a Volkswagen Golf, but still 10 times a hamster's 0.014 ha — which is itself half the eco cost of running a plasma television.

By comparison, the ecological footprint of an average human in the developing world is 1.8 ha, while people in the developed world take 6 ha.

With pets' diets under the control of owners, how can their unsustainable appetites be trimmed? Convincing carnivorous cats and dogs to go vegetarian for the sake of the planet is a non-starter, the Vales say.

Instead they recommend keeping "greener," smaller, and more sustainable pets, such as goldfish, hamsters, chickens or rabbits.

The book's playful title, and serious suggestion that pet animals may be usefully "recycled", by being eaten by their owners or turned into pet food when they die, may not appeal to animal fans.

Off-putting as the idea may be, the question is valid given the planet's growing population and finite resources, Robert Vale said.

"Issues about sustainability are increasingly becoming things that are going to require us to make choices which are as difficult as eating your dog. It's not just about changing your light bulbs or taking a cloth bag to the supermarket," he said. "It's about much more challenging and difficult issues," he added.

"Once you see where (cats and dogs) fit in your overall balance of things — you might decide to have the cat but not also to have the two cars and the three bathrooms and be a meat eater yourself."

Richard · 10-23-2009, 07:07

Guess the good ffolkes in the ROK and RPI were way ahead of us on this one.

Richard

**The Reaper** · 10-23-2009, 07:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

Leave it to the Kiwi's

Your dog has a bigger carbon foot print than your SUV...

Al Gore eat your dog,, better yet,, eat Tipper and the dog...

I guess we could also save a tremendous amount of our carbon footprint by pre-establishing an expiration date for all humans at birth, say, sixty years, terminating them at that point, and recycling their bodies to produce food and compost.

You could sell the remaining years of people who died prematurely to the highest bidders, and call them carbon credits as well. Congress would probably demand first dibs though.

TR

ES 96 · 10-23-2009, 07:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I guess we could also save a tremendous amount of our carbon footprint by pre-establishing an expiration date for all humans at birth, say, sixty years, terminating them at that point, and recycling their bodies to produce food and compost.

You could sell the remaining years of people who died prematurely to the highest bidders, and call them carbon credits as well. Congress would probably demand first dibs though.

TR

"Soylent Green is people!" - C. Heston

hmm, that stuff actually looks more appealing than lima beans and ham in a can...

**Bill Harsey** · 10-23-2009, 09:25

speaking of ecological footprints...

Our NZ architects Robert and Brenda Vale haven't quite acknowledged how much forest turned into stumps it takes to print books like theirs.

Talk about heavy footprints.

Dozer523 · 10-23-2009, 10:01

"They're faithful, friendly and furry — but under their harmless, fluffy exteriors, dogs and cats, the world's most popular house pets, use up more energy resources in a year than driving a car, a new book says."

OH PLEASE! Have you seen my lazy-ass dog? Of course not!! She's asleep under the damn couch . . . again. . . as ussual!!
I don't expect to see her until the can-opener goes "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr click". Then, we'll see some energy expended. Keep your hands an feet away from her mouth!

I love that dog.

metelliana · 10-23-2009, 12:56

I tend to like my cats(6) and dogs(2) more than I like most of the people I know. Although I do have to admit some of them would make a healthy meal.

Epitaph to a Dog
By Lord Byron (George Gordon)

Near this spot
Are deposited the Remains
Of one
Who possessed Beauty
Without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man
Without his Vices.

This Praise, which would be unmeaning flattery
If inscribed over Human Ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the Memory of
“Boatswain,” a Dog
Who was born at Newfoundland,
May, 1803,
And died in Newstead Abbey,
Nov. 18, 1808.

When some proud son of man returns to earth,
Unknown by glory, but upheld by birth,
The sculptor’s art exhausts the pomp of woe,
And storied urns record who rests below.
When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,
Not what he was, but what he should have been.
But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his master’s own,
Who labors, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonored falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth –
While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.

Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power –
Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit!
By nature vile, ennobled but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye, who perchance behold this simple urn,
Pass on – it honors none you wish to mourn.
To mark a friend’s remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one – and here he lies.

Utah Bob · 10-23-2009, 17:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I guess we could also save a tremendous amount of our carbon footprint by pre-establishing an expiration date for all humans at birth, say, sixty years, terminating them at that point, and recycling their bodies to produce food and compost.

You could sell the remaining years of people who died prematurely to the highest bidders, and call them carbon credits as well. Congress would probably demand first dibs though.

TR

Expired! Us? There must be some mistake!

JJ_BPK · 10-23-2009, 17:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Utah Bob

Expired! Us? There must be some mistake!

Logan's Run,, Jenny Agutter was HOT HOT HOT.......

abc_123 · 10-23-2009, 18:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I guess we could also save a tremendous amount of our carbon footprint by pre-establishing an expiration date for all humans at birth, say, sixty years, terminating them at that point, and recycling their bodies to produce food and compost.

You could sell the remaining years of people who died prematurely to the highest bidders, and call them carbon credits as well. Congress would probably demand first dibs though.

TR

What about the fuel to run the rollerball motorcycles? Must figure that into the equation somehow.

abc_123 · 10-23-2009, 18:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

Logan's Run,, Jenny Agutter was HOT HOT HOT.......

Man that is like soft-core porn!

No wonder my dad watched that whole movie with me when it was on T.V.!

Guy · 10-23-2009, 22:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I guess we could also save a tremendous amount of our carbon footprint by pre-establishing an expiration date for all humans at birth, say, sixty years, terminating them at that point, and recycling their bodies to produce food and compost.

You could sell the remaining years of people who died prematurely to the highest bidders, and call them carbon credits as well. Congress would probably demand first dibs though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Harsey

speaking of ecological footprints...

Our NZ architects Robert and Brenda Vale haven't quite acknowledged how much forest turned into stumps it takes to print books like theirs.

Talk about heavy footprints.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dozer523

OH PLEASE! Have you seen my lazy-ass dog? Of course not!! She's asleep under the damn couch . . . again. . . as ussual!!
I don't expect to see her until the can-opener goes "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr click". Then, we'll see some energy expended. Keep your hands an feet away from her mouth!

I love that dog.

LMAO!

Stay safe gents.

Dozer523 · 10-30-2009, 08:49

My dog is asleep next to my chair. She is in REM sleep and her tail is wagging. . . probably dreaming about food. She is worthless. I love this dog.

TOMAHAWK9521 · 10-30-2009, 08:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I guess we could also save a tremendous amount of our carbon footprint by pre-establishing an expiration date for all humans at birth, say, sixty years, terminating them at that point, and recycling their bodies to produce food and compost.

You could sell the remaining years of people who died prematurely to the highest bidders, and call them carbon credits as well. Congress would probably demand first dibs though.

TR

RENEW! RENEW!

Sandmen, go catch those runners!

sleepyhead4 · 10-30-2009, 15:54

No sh!t, I saw a special on AFN about the negative effects of livestock on global warming. According to the scientists on the show, cows and pigs produce more methane than is good for the environment. And supposedly, methane is worse for global warming than exhausts from cars. I thought that was very interesting...and I've vowed to do my part in being more green by eating more meat. That sounds like a good T-shirt logo: "Be green, eat meat."