How bad are pets for our environment? How much would a cat or dog cost if you had to buy an emissions certificate?
Asked by Gerald from Frankfurt, Germany
Americans own more than 78 million dogs and 86 million cats. With all of these animals eating food, pooping abundantly and in some cases, hunting wildlife, the topic of pet sustainability is anything but insignificant.
One of the most crucial decisions in owning a sustainable pet is that of what kind to get. Each species comes with a laundry list of pros and cons, but there are two rules of thumb: vegetarians have a lighter impact than carnivores; and no matter the species, the smaller the breed, the better. But you might also consider owning a pet that provides a service. Example: chickens. You may not be cuddling up together as you would with a furry kitten, but chickens do have other values. Chickens can eat table scraps, simple grains or other local foods and don’t need heavily processed canned food. Chickens generate rich fertilizer for your garden, eat insect larvae (including the larvae of many invasive insect species), and they produce eggs. With a little more space, you could own a pet goat that gives you milk for delicious cheese; or your could opt for pet worms to help you with your composting. If you can get your hamster’s wheel to generate electricity, all the better.
No matter what kind of pet you own, though, they are going to produce waste. And socially responsible waste disposal is an easy way to reduce the carbon paw print of your pup or kitten. If you leave your pet’s feces unattended on the lawn or in the gutter, it can lead to some surprising problems. First, any animal waste will naturally release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, as it decomposes. Unfortunately, cat and dog feces cannot readily be composted or used directly as fertilizer for your home garden. Since cats and dogs both eat meat, their feces often contain live and harmful bacteria or parasites ranging from toxoplasmosis, a bacterium harmful to pregnant women and their unborn children, to E. coli or even such gross parasites as such as hookworms. Scientists can now even trace some instances of water pollution back to dog feces. The harmful poop can even contaminate the air we breathe.
Most dog owners pick up their puppy’s waste in a plastic bag, which is certainly preferable to leaving it lie. Biodegradable pet waste bags may be a better option, but since they can’t be composted, you’re still sending organic waste to the landfill. Fortunately, there is a better solution: waste conversion.
Waste converters are the new must-have gadget for any socially responsible pet owner. Many of these converters use worms to convert the waste into nutrient-rich castings. One of the most popular models, the Doggie Dooley, functions like a miniature septic tank, naturally breaking down the toxins and letting the harmless remains drain away. Many people are even building their own converters, simply using a garbage can and some septic starter. If you live in a city, there are compact electric versions that may be a bit pricy, but run with very little electricity and you will be the envy of your apartment building. One creative artist/inventor created a pet waste converter that uses the methane released to power a gas-lit street lamp in a neighborhood park.
Since our questioner directly asks about using carbon offsets to compensate for the emissions from pets as opposed to solutions for individual pet problems, it seems appropriate to discuss the actual process of buying those offsets. When you buy a carbon offset for a flight, your driving, or just your daily life, you aren’t paying for those emissions to magically disappear. The money goes toward funding environmentally beneficial projects—everything from wetlands conservation to clean energy technology development. Perhaps the easiest project to visualize is reforestation. If you find the right certified company, such as CanopyCo or CarbonFund.Org, you can guarantee the allocation of your funds to a forestation project where your dollars are turned into trees that soak up carbon from the atmosphere and emit oxygen.
So how much would it cost to buy offsets for your pet? The annual emissions created from one large dog are roughly equivalent to driving an SUV 6,000 miles. At carbonfund.org, that translates to about 4.5 metric tons of carbon emissions and an offset of about $45. And if you ask me, I think Fido is worth every penny.
Brady Hamed, '12, is an earth systems major.
