For years owners of SUVs have been demonized for killing the planet and engaging in irresponsible extravagance. As it turns out, Snoopy is beginning to look sinister:
… a medium-sized dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos of cereal a year. 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 4×4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car.
To confirm the results, the New Scientist magazine asked John Barrett at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, Britain, to calculate eco-pawprints based on his own data. The results were essentially the same.
"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.
Here we see the fundamental problem with tying living (eating, drinking and breathing) to "environmental impact", global warming and risk. Sooner or letter living and breathing animals and people become an extravagance that must be sacrificed to the gods of climate change.
