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Once you conscript animals into human society they do require tremendous resources and they do pollute. You can look at animal agriculture for an extreme exampl
by asciimo 10y ago
Once you conscript animals into human society they do require tremendous resources and they do pollute. You can look at animal agriculture for an extreme example. It's easy to forget that animals are very inefficient resources because they use most of their input to simply survive, rather than "produce."
- ChuckMcM 10y agoImagine a bunch of different animals all working together to actually run the farm :-) More seriously though your observation arises from speed and density, not activity. Consider chickens for example, which if you have a couple dozen chickens using a hectare (~2.5 acres) to live on their feeding and feces are completely supported in the existing cycles of that land (presuming non-desert, non-arctic). What gets it out of control is when you want 2000 hens laying in a single building on less than an acre. High density, imported feed, waste disposal becomes and issue, etc.
- asciimo 10y agoTrue. Add to that the farming of the grains you're feeding the animals, 90% of which will not be reclaimed in the final product. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_level#Biomass_transfer_efficiency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_level#Biomass_transfer...)
- TheSpiceIsLife 10y agoIndeed. I have read that keeping a medium sized dog (as a pet or working dog) is approximately as carbon intensive as driving a large car / 4 wheel drive. I suppose dogs could be vegetarian, I have heard of people doing that, and they are natural omnivores, but generally speaking most people feed their dogs a carbon intensive (animal rich) diet.
- asciimo 10y agoFascinating. I never considered the carbon footprint of companion animals. I'm sure that cats are more harmful per mass unit than dogs, being obligate carnivores.
- TheSpiceIsLife 10y agoReferenced from Time to Eat the Dog?: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living. Robert and Brenda Vale www.goodreads.com/book/show/6567558-time-to-eat-the-dog
- vcdimension 10y agoAnimal food ultimately comes from plants though, so the net increase in carbon to the atmosphere is zero, and their by-products are not so harmful. Machines rely on electricity which is mostly generated from non-renewable resources, and the production of steel and other raw materials requires a lot of energy and harmful waste. Also consider that biological brains are several orders of magnitude more efficient than electronic ones.
- vcdimension 10y agoAlso, we don't necessarily need to breed more animals to perform useful tasks. We can just train existing populations (e.g. birds and bees) to behave in ways that are mutually beneficial to them and us.