bodhi tree swaying

New Scientist has a thought-provoking article about work by Robert and Brenda Vale, two architects who specialize in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and who have looked into the ecological impact of pets. Apparently keeping a dog can be worse for the environment than running an SUV:

They calculated, for example, that a medium-sized dog would consume 90 grams of meat and 156 grams of cereals daily in its recommended 300-gram portion of dried dog food. At its pre-dried weight, that equates to 450 grams of fresh meat and 260 grams of cereal. That means that over the course of a year, Fido wolfs down about 164 kilograms of meat and 95 kilograms of cereals.

It takes 43.3 square metres of land to generate 1 kilogram of chicken per year – far more for beef and lamb – and 13.4 square metres to generate a kilogram of

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