From Nov 2008 of Mother Jones (http://www.Motherjones.com), by Ben Whitford, pg 73, come these comparisons, along with my comments.
Please make your own comments by clicking the comment button below AND email Mother Jones if you are feeding fresh, local food as the carbon costs drop to near zero along with improved health. What if all your emails got 50% more people feeding a fresh food diet - healthier animals and healthier planet.
"feeding Fido creates 596 lbs of CO2 emmisions per year and Fluffy is 517. Size matters: According to a 2006 National Academies study, a St. Bernard needs 12 times as much food as a cat, meaning greater energy use and more emmissions:" This is for people feeding commercial food. The carbon costs can entail raising the meat and vegetables, transporting them to the factory (and remember much comes from China so a lot of carbon is used up), processing them with the concurrent waste products, packaging them and shipping them to the distribuition centers and then to the stores where you buy them, and recycling or trash costs for the packaging once you have fed them. Compare this to buying local organic, free range meats and vegetables for your animals, especially when you are using unwanted scraps. The carbon footprint is less for raising them, zero for shipping to the processing plant, zero for processing, zero for packaging, zero for package disposal. Just your gas to pick up the products and the energy to wash up your utensils and electricity for the freezer.
"A weekly 10 mile ride to the off-leash park produces 400 lbs of carbon per year - the equivalent of feeding a whole cat. ... Felines kill songbirds (me: this is very debateable and I do not think domestic or feral cats really cause much depletion here - not compared to habitat destruction) and litter pellets, often made with strip-mined clay, add some 3.4 million tons of solid waste a year to landfills." Here again, speak up and write to Mother Jones - there are many cat litters that are easier on the planet - pine, corn, newspaper for 3. Yes, there are packaging and shipping costs unless you buy from your local feed store. Comments please from those of you I know buy something for cat litter from the feed store that I have forgotten.
"The biggest problem? Pet owners. We spend $1.8 billion each year on dog toys, often imported and/or made from plastic. Cats have to make do with $1 billion worth of catnip and rubber mice." Again, there are many options for locally made toys or ones you construct yourself.
For health, please do not buy toys made in China.
Again, please write Mother Jones about holistic alternatives and comment below as well.
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