If you don’t know that most anything can be proven in a study, now is the time to realize that seemingly absolute truth. Keeping that in mind, I do love it when people basically stick a fork in some popular ideology, belief system, or movement. The latest group to do this is a team of researchers from Victoria University in New Zealand. The topic at hand: sustainability. Sustainability extends well beyond the themes of farming and food and into everyday life. However, food culture is a huge portion of the sustainability movement.
The study, conducted by professors Brenda and Robert Vale and published in the New Scientist, says that the eco-pawprint (cute – but not mine) of a dog is roughly equivalent to that of a Toyota Land Cruiser driven 12,500 miles in a calendar year. There are many more interesting tidbits pointed out in the article I read, which is a summary of the Vales book entitled Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living. So all you sustainable people – say goodbye to Rover and replace him with Clucky, the family chicken.
Now there are PLENTY of legitimate contrarian points to this angle; however, I just think it’s important to show people that there are two sides to every story. Don’t get caught up in the PC friendly subculture without first understanding the scope of the problem at hand. And oh yeah – sustainability has real benefits. Alright … discuss 🙂
[via /dot]