Red planeten: Spis din hund!

Det måtte jo næsten komme. Af hensyn til den hensygnende jordklode må man nu heller ikke have hund længere.

To newzealandske arkitekter, har regnet ud, at det sviner dobbelt så meget at være ejer af en schæferhund som at køre i en firhjulstrækker.

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.

"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.

Dette har fået parret - og vi ved jo alle, hvilke eksperter professorer udi arkitekturen er hvad angår klimaet - til at skive en bog, Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living, om denne tikkende miljøbombe.

Nu ejer jeg ikke selv hverken en bil eller en rottweiler, men med skam at melde er jeg dog i besiddelse af en af de forkætrede fladskærme. Men denne trussel mod Moder Gaia har jeg heldigvis neutraliseret ved at have fravalgt to hamstere.

The eco-footprints of the family pet each year as calculated by the Vales:

German shepherds: 1.1 hectares, compared with 0.41ha for a large SUV.

Cats: 0.15ha (slightly less than a Volkswagen Golf). Hamsters: 0.014ha (two of them equate to a medium-sized plasma TV).

Goldfish: 0.00034ha (an eco-finprint equal to two cellphones).

Gudskelov! Ej heller min brug af mobiltelefonen vil få varig indflydelse på klimaet, al den stund, jeg heller ikke holder guldfisk. Min samvittighed er ren. Hvor galt kunne det ellers ikke gå?


Meget galt!