If your God is Mother Earth it makes sense you will take on anything that assaults her honor. It's interesting that this whole "carbon footprint" calculation could be turned on everything from how much your plasma tv is desecrating the holy Mother to the obvious abomination of the driving an SUV. Well the Crusade has made it to the new frontier of the family pet!
Combine the land required to generate its food and a "medium" sized dog has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares (2.07 acres) -- around twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4x4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car....But there was one point I could agree with in the article:
"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....
And pets' environmental impact is not limited to their carbon footprint, as cats and dogs devastate wildlife, spread disease and pollute waterways, the Vales say.
But the best way of compensating for that paw or clawprint is to make sure your animal is dual purpose, the Vales urge. Get a hen, which offsets its impact by laying edible eggs, or a rabbit, prepared to make the ultimate environmental sacrifice by ending up on the dinner table.I've always said, "I like cats - they taste like chicken."
"Rabbits are good, provided you eat them," said Robert Vale.