Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi...
by harimau777 on Thursday December 26, 2019 @12:00PM
(#21885089)
Everything that people own has some carbon cost associated with is, so the mere presence of a carbon cost doesn't justify getting rid of it.
Why would you argue that pets specifically are something that people should give up? People have needs that go beyond food, water, and shelter (e.g. play, love, stimulation, etc.) that will have to be factored into any plan to reduce carbon emissions. It seems to me that pets are an excellent value in terms of degree to which they provide for their needs versus associated carbon cost.
Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi...
by 11235813213455 on Monday December 30, 2019 @04:33PM
(#21916903)
Yes we have needs, but the planet has limits that we already hit, so we now should all have a moral duty to limit/filter our non-essential needs
The sources show how significant pets impact is (1/5th of the world meat+fish production, think about the processing, transport, and all intermediate materials required for this and the pollution that generates, and finally the ecosystem damages via outdoors and feral ones)
Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi...
by harimau777 on Monday December 30, 2019 @06:55PM
(#21917798)
I see what you're saying, but I'm not sure that the needs that pets supply are non-essential. For many people they are a significant, if not primary, source of companionship and joy. I think we would need a plan for how to offset removing something so important.
But a pet is equivalent to 2 4x4 cars: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_food#cite_note-8 so it can't hurt to start with that, or with anything else that would reduce pollution basically, at any scale. The problem is the accumulation, if most people reduce their environmental footprint by a half, the effect is very significant, it's like twice less humans