Green warriors and environmentalists lie about the dangerous environmental impact of housepets in Berlin.

Title: Green warriors and environmentalists lie about the dangerous environmental impact of housepets in Berlin.

Proof that house pets have a significant negative impact on carbon emissions and the environment has existed for years, but it is only now starting to gain recognition in the media. As the human populations in cities Rises, so does the pet animal population, which is increasingly stressing city infrastructure. Many City dwellers already complain about the dog poop littering the green areas. Some bitter residents say the parks have become nothing more then a "pet potty". Until now, most well-intentioned articles offering advice on how to reduce your carbon footprint do not mention pets at all. This is not an accident. However, these articles often vilify driving (cars), eating meat and some even encourage people to avoid having children to reduce carbon emissions. Let us compare the environmental impacts of autos versus meat consumption versus pets in Berlin, with real numbers.

Data:

Number of dogs in Berlin 100K - 200K
Average poop per dog per year 100 kg
Average poop per person per year 145 kg
Total dog poop per year Berlin 10M - 20M kg
Average pet dog size 25 kg, 49% are obese
Reccomended food per dog 500 g daily (400 g meat)
Total (Reccomended) dog food per year per dog 180 kg
Total (Reccomended) dog food per year Berlin 18M - 36M kg
Average European meat consumption per year per person 80 kg

• this data was collected from Google search of official sources, and articles linked below.

Conclusions: The impact on the environment it takes to produce the meat and grain consumed by an average dog per year (117 kg) corresponds to an area of 0.8 hectares. Yet a normal car that travels 10K km a year has an ecological footprint of 0.4 hectares, half the damage of the dog! Further, the average dog consumes more than double the meat of the average person in Europe. Case closed: pets should be nearer the top of the list for most environmentally damaging lifestyle choices!

Why do environmentalists lie about pets? My guess, environmentalists lie because they don't want to alienate their supporters. They know that their supporters care more about their pets than the environment. Tree huggers care about the environment so long as they don't have to make major sacrifices in their lifestyle. These numbers don't even account for cat ownership, which further increases the environmental Burden in our city.

Lessons:

1. Higher taxes and harder regulations on pet owners in the city.

2. Higher penalties on Pet owners who do not register their pet, pay pet taxes, or pick up their pets poop in public parks.

3. The media and government should discourage pet ownership in big cities to protect the environment, sanitation and health of the Citizens.

4. On a personal level, ignore that homeowners who complained that no one protects the environment.

Source articles:

1. https://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/pets-pollute-more-than-cars-scientists-say.html

2. https://www.livescience.com/44732-eliminating-pet-poop-pollution.html?

3. https://www.treehugger.com/pets/cats-dogs-meat-environmental-impact-in-US.html

Image credit: http://theconversation.com/the-bark-side-domestic-dogs-threaten-endangered-species-worldwide-76782