I think burning books is sacrilegious, smelly and polluting… but the concept of this book has me really annoyed.
I read an article about a study done that says that dogs have a bigger carbon footprint than SUVs. The study was published under the shock-value title, Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living.
The book was written by Brenda and Robert Vale, professors at Victoria University. Perhaps I should read the book before I can judge, but I refuse to give even one cent of my money to these idiots.
The book suggests that people keep pets that they can eat like for instance chickens and rabbits.
“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.”
~Quote from the source article
As one of the comments on the articles said, dogs consume renewable resources, but the fossil fuels used to create petrol are not.
(Source: Article on The Dominion Post by Tanya Kattern.)… But I’m not done.
Dogs are awesome!
The concept of this book ridiculous. Substituting dogs and cats with animals we could eat would be pointless. More meat-producing animals aren’t going to help at all! Raising an animal as a pet and then killing it for meat is psychopathic behaviour. It’s like killing and eating your human child because it is an economic burden and a source of pollution.
The meat industry has a far greater carbon footprint than the auto industry. Why? Because meat is mass-produced. Cattle are fed large amounts of crops and steroids in order to pump up production.
The meat industry wastes land, food, and energy. It creates animal suffering. Apart from CO2 it produces methane gas and nitrous oxide.
“A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined.”
~H. Steinfeld et al., Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, Livestock, Environment and Development (2006).
“According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads.”
~Source*
*Read more about: How the meat industry pollutes the environment.)
I’m not sure what the numbers would be in SA, but you get the idea. You’re probably thinking but happens to all the animals if we’re not going to eat them? I’m not saying elliminate existing animals or let them become extinct, I’m just saying let’s stop mass producing them to beyond natural numbers for our own personal gain. If you can’t see yourself giving up meat try substituting just one weekly meal of flesh for a plantt based meal.
Owning dogs give both humans and dogs happiness (if dogs are treated fairly). I wouldn’t want to live on a planet without dogs, no matter how cool my car was.
To the authors of the book I say a giant: F*** You!
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