Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on October 22, 2009

At first, I thought this environment article was a spoof. Then I realized: THEY’RE SERIOUS.

The environmental insanity continues, nothing is off limits to save Mother Earth from hysterical mayhem and destruction. Now they’re targeting the carbon emissions of pets, for Pete’s sake. What are the carbon emissions of a polar bear, I wonder.

What’s next from these socialist academia wackos? Guilt trips about using toilet paper? Or growing crops? Or exhaling carbon dioxide… oh, wait, they’re already working on that one.

From Watts Up With That: Sustainable living now includes “edible pets” to curb global warming:

…The eco-pawprint of a pet dog is twice that of a 4.6-litre Land Cruiser driven 10,000 kilometres a year, researchers have found.

Victoria University professors Brenda and Robert Vale, architects who specialise in sustainable living, say pet owners should swap cats and dogs for creatures they can eat, such as chickens or rabbits, in their provocative new book Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living.

The couple have assessed the carbon emissions created by popular pets, taking into account the ingredients of pet food and the land needed to create them.

“If you have a German shepherd or similar-sized dog, for example, its impact every year is exactly the same as driving a large car around,” Brenda Vale said.

“A lot of people worry about having SUVs but they don’t worry about having Alsatians and what we are saying is, well, maybe you should be because the environmental impact … is comparable.”

In a study published in New Scientist, they calculated a medium dog eats 164 kilograms of meat and 95kg of cereals every year. It takes 43.3 square metres of land to produce 1kg of chicken a year. This means it takes 0.84 hectares to feed Fido.

They compared this with the footprint of a Toyota Land Cruiser, driven 10,000km a year, which uses 55.1 gigajoules (the energy used to build and fuel it). One hectare of land can produce 135 gigajoules a year, which means the vehicle’s eco-footprint is 0.41ha – less than half of the dog’s.

They found cats have an eco-footprint of 0.15ha – slightly less than a Volkswagen Golf. Hamsters have a footprint of 0.014ha – keeping two of them is equivalent to owning a plasma TV.

Professor Vale says the title of the book is meant to shock, but the couple, who do not have a cat or dog, believe the reintroduction of non-carnivorous pets into urban areas would help slow down global warming.

“The title of the book is a little bit of a shock tactic, I think, but though we are not advocating eating anyone’s pet cat or dog there is certainly some truth in the fact that if we have edible pets like chickens for their eggs and meat, and rabbits and pigs, we will be compensating for the impact of other things on our environment.”

Professor Vale took her message to Wellington City Council last year, but councillors said banning traditional pets or letting people keep food animals in their homes were not acceptable options.

Head-scratcher: If I don’t have any hamsters, how many plasma TVs am I allowed to own?

UPDATE, OCTOBER 26, 2009: More global warming nonsense with California’s ideas to disrupt electronic signals coming from cars… gotta save the planet no matter what, dontcha know:
Bob Barr, Big Government: ‘Cool Cars’ Guaranteed To Make You Hot Under The Collar

Video Encore… I’ve posted this video once before with senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Joe Bastardi, who matter-of-factly debunks global warming, but in case you missed it the first time, you’ll find it fascinating. Bastardi explains the scientific facts of historical weather conditions and current weather conditions, in terms most lay people can understand, on how the climate is COOLING.

Bill O’Reilly and AccuWeather Meteorologist Joe Bastardi on Global Warming | September 2009

Additional reading:
Gateway Pundit: Save Earth – Eat Your Pet
Below The Beltway: Save The Earth, Eat Fluffy!
The Tizona Group: New Eco-Warrior Battle Cry: Eat the Dog!
Libertarian Romantic Ideal: New Solution Proposed for Global Warming: Edible Pets
Pew Research Center: Fewer Americans See Solid Evidence of Global Warming
Tony Hake, Denver Weather Examiner: AccuWeather’s Joe Bastardi presses case against global warming theory
Ace of Spades HQ: Americans Still Cooling on Global Warming
Phelim McAleer & Ann McElhinney, Big Hollywood: Greenpeace Urges ‘Astroturfing’ to Counter Revelation of Lies
Mary Grabar, Big Government: The Tangled Web of Green: Manufacturing a Public Scare
Pirate’s Cove: Oh, Noes! Climate Change Could Kill Italy’s Pasta!
Christian Toto, Big Hollywood: Interview: ‘Not Evil Just Wrong’s’ Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney
Not Evil Just Wrong: Not Evil will live stream debate on climate change
Tim Slagle, Big Hollywood: If NBC Really Wanted to Save the Planet They’d Go Out of Business
World Climate Report: Where Are All The Drowning Polar Bears?
Darin Miller, Big Hollywood: Inconvenient Truths Surface in ‘Not Evil Just Wrong’
The Foundry, Heritage Foundation: CBO To Join Heritage Answering Committee’s Questions
GayPatriot: President Makes Case for Unshackling Energy Industry
The Freedom Medium: Al Gore Should Admit To Global Warming Hoax
Frugal Café Blog Zone: They’re Coming… “Meat Police” to Save the Planet from Global Warming and Saw It, Loved It: “Not Evil, Just Wrong” Outstanding Exposé Documentary and No, Mr. Gore, Polar Bears Are Not in Danger When Their Numbers Are at 50-Year Highs (video) and Debunking Global Warming: From Idaho to Chicago… Early Snow! Global Warming a Political Tool, Mocked by Mother Nature’s Record Global Cooling Trend (video) and NYT Publishes Desperate, Silly Nonsense about Global Warming Hoax: John Kerry Now Claims “Climate Change” Will Threaten National Security and Polar Bear Numbers Surge to 50-Year High, Obama’s Approval Rating Plunges to New Dismal Low and Just How Bad Is the HR 2454 Energy Tax Bill? Greenpeace Won’t Back It and No “Global Warming” in Arizona – Coldest June on Record Since 1913 and Global Warming Study Suppressed by EPA: Discovered and Released and Cap-and-Trade Energy Tax Bill… We’re in the Middle of Pretending to Save the Planet, Baby
Post Politics, Political News and Views in Tennessee: Everybody Hates Al
P.J. Gladnick, NewsBusters: Polar Bear Testimony Suppressed Due to ‘Inconvenient’ Truths

Christopher C. Horner, Big Government: Kerry and Graham on Global Warming: So Awfully Different and First They Came For the “Climate Criminals” and Climate Change: The ‘Planned Recession’ Strategy and Climate Alert: “We Must Substantiate Planet Warming!” and Obama Cap-and-Trade Scheme: What do “necessarily skyrocket” and “bankrupt” mean? and Who Is and Who Isn’t Qualified to Speak on Global Warming
American Spectator: Confusion, Not Clarification
Dirty Democrats: Commerce Secretary Gary Locke Says US Should Pay For China’s Emissions
Dwight Schultz, Big Hollywood: Obama’s EPA Ignores Inconvenient Truths
GOP Counter Culture: Global Warming: the new non-smoking section
Climate Depot: CNN’s Lou Dobbs Hosts Rare Global Warming Debate Over Gore’s ‘Errors’ — Mocks claim that cap-and-trade is ‘market based plan’ (Video) and Greenpeace Leader: There is urgent need for the suppression of economic growth in U.S…’Lifestyle of the rich in the world is not a sustainable model’
Neoavatara: Does Obama Just Not Get It?
Chris Horner, American Spectator: A Dark Day for Times Blogs Editors
America Watches Obama: Everyone Hates the Cap-and-Trade Bill
The Other McCain: The Monstrosity From Hell That Will Destroy the American Economy
Lake Minnetonka Liberty 2.0: The funny little imaginary world of the climate kook & other assorted environmentalist nutballs
Beltway Snark: China’s Emission Problems All Our Fault
National Black Chamber of Commerce: NBCC Study Finds Waxman-Markey Reduces GDP by $350 Billion: New study finds Waxman-Markey could cost 2.5 million U.S. jobs each year through 2030 and reduce earnings

Categories: Economy, Environment and Earth, Social and Political Climate
Tags: AGW, anthropogenic global warming, cap and tax, cap and trade, carbon emissions, cat, climate change, climate change hoax, dog, eat pet, energy costs, environment, global warming, global warming hoax, hoax, myth, national tax energy, pets, political, politics, scam, Victoria University, Waxman-Markey bill