6 ms·

Pets contribute more co2 than most people. Taking care of your friends and family more than a furball may be a good alternative too.

jeromegv 8y ago
Pets do NOT contribute more co2 than most people. https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/4/16094674/cats-dogs-meat-diet-greenhouse-gases-climate-change https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/4/16094674/cats-dogs-meat-di... Pets do contribute surprisingly a lot of CO2 when you add them up, based on their meat consumption. But it's less than what a human would consume in meat and especially a lot less when you add how much humans transport themselves around.
PakG1 8y ago
Could you break down how that's possible? The only way I can think of that being possible is if you move the goal posts for one group and compare apple mathematics to orange mathematics.
bengale 8y ago
Do you have more info on this? It seems counterintuitive on the face of it, my dog doesn't take a lot of flights or drive far for example.
- benj111 8y ago
  I think the idea is that, dogs for example have a high meat diet, and large dogs probably eat more than a person. And they might not drive but a lot of owners like to drive some where to 'walk' their dog. Although considering the levels of obesity, that the exercise might be a net benefit. Now I don't think dogs or cats cause anything like as much co2 as humans, but it is significant, and given the scale of reductions in co2 required, I think we are probably going to get to a point where large pet ownership is at least questioned.
StavrosK 8y ago
> Taking care of your friends and family more than a furball For many people, pets are family. How do they contribute more co2 than most people, anyway, when they rarely drive?
vinceguidry 8y ago
Pets can love you back. The same isn't necessarily true of most people.
- benj111 8y ago
  What is love? My dog only sticks around because I feed it. But then that's the same for my partner. I suppose you could say its some kind of need for companionship? For me and my partner that's evolutionarily good for raising our spawn. But my dog has been genetically bred for 1000s of years for our purposes, maybe for a dog, it's unnatural to love, and a form of genetic enslavement? Maybe they've just learnt they get rewarded when they show 'love'. Of course theres also the chance that you're anthropomorphising an animal.
  - vinceguidry 8y ago
    Mammals have the same limbic systems we do.
  - cowb0yl0gic 8y ago
    I want to knee-jerk and say "you've got it backwards; humans are mammals, mammals are social organisms, love is part of that profile". At the base, of course, everything is genetics; however, that doesn't make our experience of it any less real (just like our appreciation of beauty). I would say if your dog (or your partner) is just sticking around because you feed it, you are not doing something right.
  - kakarot 8y ago
    If I was out of food my dogs would make sure we all got fed. There are ways to have a symbiotic relationship with another animal without strict verbal communication. Maybe you just haven't taken the time to learn about your animal and the things that make it unique and worth loving. Because it might already be doing that about you. I know I wake up every morning to my cat purring on my face and nestling into me and she starts purring the moment I pick her up. She's not sticking around for table scraps. I used to own rats. If you want to really learn just how emotionally intelligent pets can be, get a pair of those. Some of the most social creatures you'll ever meet.
kakarot 8y ago
You can't seriously believe that.
thanatropism 8y ago
At this point we'd be moving from policy to wide-scale social engineering.

jeromegv 8y ago

Pets do NOT contribute more co2 than most people. https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/4/16094674/cats-dogs-meat-diet-greenhouse-gases-climate-change https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/4/16094674/cats-dogs-meat-di... Pets do contribute surprisingly a lot of CO2 when you add them up, based on their meat consumption. But it's less than what a human would consume in meat and especially a lot less when you add how much humans transport themselves around.

PakG1 8y ago

Could you break down how that's possible? The only way I can think of that being possible is if you move the goal posts for one group and compare apple mathematics to orange mathematics.

bengale 8y ago

Do you have more info on this? It seems counterintuitive on the face of it, my dog doesn't take a lot of flights or drive far for example.

benj111 8y ago
I think the idea is that, dogs for example have a high meat diet, and large dogs probably eat more than a person. And they might not drive but a lot of owners like to drive some where to 'walk' their dog. Although considering the levels of obesity, that the exercise might be a net benefit. Now I don't think dogs or cats cause anything like as much co2 as humans, but it is significant, and given the scale of reductions in co2 required, I think we are probably going to get to a point where large pet ownership is at least questioned.

StavrosK 8y ago

> Taking care of your friends and family more than a furball For many people, pets are family. How do they contribute more co2 than most people, anyway, when they rarely drive?

vinceguidry 8y ago

Pets can love you back. The same isn't necessarily true of most people.

benj111 8y ago
What is love? My dog only sticks around because I feed it. But then that's the same for my partner. I suppose you could say its some kind of need for companionship? For me and my partner that's evolutionarily good for raising our spawn. But my dog has been genetically bred for 1000s of years for our purposes, maybe for a dog, it's unnatural to love, and a form of genetic enslavement? Maybe they've just learnt they get rewarded when they show 'love'. Of course theres also the chance that you're anthropomorphising an animal.
- vinceguidry 8y ago
  Mammals have the same limbic systems we do.
- cowb0yl0gic 8y ago
  I want to knee-jerk and say "you've got it backwards; humans are mammals, mammals are social organisms, love is part of that profile". At the base, of course, everything is genetics; however, that doesn't make our experience of it any less real (just like our appreciation of beauty). I would say if your dog (or your partner) is just sticking around because you feed it, you are not doing something right.
- kakarot 8y ago
  If I was out of food my dogs would make sure we all got fed. There are ways to have a symbiotic relationship with another animal without strict verbal communication. Maybe you just haven't taken the time to learn about your animal and the things that make it unique and worth loving. Because it might already be doing that about you. I know I wake up every morning to my cat purring on my face and nestling into me and she starts purring the moment I pick her up. She's not sticking around for table scraps. I used to own rats. If you want to really learn just how emotionally intelligent pets can be, get a pair of those. Some of the most social creatures you'll ever meet.

kakarot 8y ago

You can't seriously believe that.

thanatropism 8y ago

At this point we'd be moving from policy to wide-scale social engineering.