Dear Action Line,
As I was contemplating climate change and reading much discussion about how gas stoves, leaf blowers, gas-powered vehicles and grocery plastic bags have a detrimental effect on the health of our planet, it also crossed my mind that there are other things not part of the media discussion that probably have an effect also.
While I was pondering this on a recent drive, I became aware of the considerable number of citizens on Florida Road walking one, two or more canines (or maybe the canines are walking the people, don’t know). I began to ask myself if there was any measurable impact of this behavior on our environment.
I asked a knowledgeable friend by the name of ChatGPT, and was told “impact is comparable to the emissions from driving a car.” And our pets’ diets’ contribute up to 25% to 30% of the environmental impact of meat consumption. Not to mention all the dog poop that mostly ends up in plastic bags in landfills. As we are discussing and imposing a carbon tax on emissions, perhaps pet owners should likewise pay.
Petless in Durango (one of the few)
Dear Petless in Durango,
When my dog is begging for food from your child, does it beg the question of which has greater environmental impact, a child or a pet? Actually no, that would misuse the phrase “begging the question” (see today’s “Fun Fact,”), but it does make you think about it.
The reality is that figuring out what activities have worse environmental impacts than others is a fraught exercise totally dependent on the inputs. A little more internet sleuthing determined that dog ownership may actually be worse in terms of a year of the dog’s life eating beef kibble versus a kid you are feeding on a vegan diet living in a solar yurt, but then compare the whole life of a person over 80 years (including all the children and dogs they may eventually have) versus the 15 years of a spayed/neutered rescued dog and, well, you get the idea.
But we don’t need to single out one person’s activities over another like in some postapocalyptic climate change dystopian “Squid Game.” A proper carbon tax would apply equally to all activities by taxing carbon production itself (and more extreme greenhouse cases like methane even higher) so that my choice to eat a burger with my dog is treated fairly with your choice to go on an airline vacation with your kid.
No one really likes taxes, so really other taxes would need to be reduced to make these palatable – here’s a website that provides low-carbon food for thought along these lines: https://tinyurl.com/5bxdf65a.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Today’s Fun Fact: The phrase “begs the question” does not mean “leads to another question” as it is most often misused today. Instead, it’s a rhetorical device to refute a faulty circular argument or one that assumes the conclusion – for instance, if you questioned a Scientologist how to objectively know that “Dianetics” contains the truth and they said because L. Rob Hubbard says so right in the introduction, that statement would merely “beg the question,” rather than persuasively answer it.
