I found this article quite interesting - and they are not advocating we eat our dogs, despite the recent incident of this here in New Zealand!!!
They do however say -
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.
"I think we need animals because they are a positive in our society. We can all make little changes to reduce carbon footprints but without pointing the finger at pets, which are part of family networks."
The eco-footprints of the family pet each year as calculated by the Vales:
German shepherds: 1.1 hectares, compared with 0.41ha for a large SUV.
Cats: 0.15ha (slightly less than a Volkswagen Golf). Hamsters: 0.014ha (two of them equate to a medium-sized plasma TV).
Goldfish: 0.00034ha (an eco-fingerprint equal to two cellphones).
damn... i have the dogs, the cats, the fish, a small SUV, the plasma.. and the cellphone - which shall I give up!!!! Somehow keeping rabbits and chickens doesn't hold any appeal... and life without the techno seems unimaginable! No blogging, no facebook....
What would you do?
