Have you ever wondered how a pet's diet affects the environment?

•Since approximately 163 million dogs and cats are kept as pets in the United States, and both are carnivorous species, we assume that the majority of vegetarians give their pets non-vegetable food products. It's not a mistake.

•That's why Gregory Okin, professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is wondering how badly pet food products can affect the environment.

•It is well established that meat products have an environmental impact. Okin stated in a study published this month in the journal PloS ONE: “Meat-centric meals require more energy, land and water than vegetarian meals, and have more serious environmental consequences in terms of erosion, pesticides and waste.”
Based on a survey conducted last year by a vegetarian resource group based in Baltimore, Maryland , the United States recognizes an estimated 8 million adults are vegetarian. This is 3.3% of the adult population in the United States and refrains from eating meat, seafood, or poultry. (This number includes those who recognize vegans that do not eat eggs or dairy products.)

Many people who choose to become vegetarians cite the negative environmental impact of meat products. However, about 163 million dogs and cats are kept as pets in the United States, both of which are carnivorous, so even the majority of vegetarians give their pets non-vegetable food. It is not a mistake to assume. Based on this, Gregory Okin, a geography professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), raised a question. “How bad are pet food products for the environment?”

As a professor of geography and as a member of UCLA's environmental and sustainability agency, Okin's research mostly focuses on desert landscape dynamics and how it affects local ecosystems and the global climate. ing. Okin's first interest in investigating the impact of pet food on the environment was due to the growing number of Americans raising chickens in the backyard.

"Chicken is I thought that's great is they'll make a protein to eat us eat vegetables, but many of the other pets are taking a large amount of protein from meat." Said Okin said a statement Said in “That's why I started thinking – how much meat does a pet eat?”

As noted in a study published by Okin in this month's journal PloS ONE , meat products are well established to have an environmental impact. “Comparing to a botanical diet, a meat-centric diet requires more energy, land and water, and has a much greater impact on the environment in terms of erosion, pesticides and waste.”

In addition, the US has the largest number of estimated 77.8 million dogs and 85.6 million cats on the planet as of 2015, and the meat-centered diet of these pets has a significant environmental impact. “In addition to the need for more land to produce the same amount of energy protein compared to crops, which contributes to soil erosion, animal products use water, fossil fuels Use, greenhouse gas emissions, and the use of fertilizers and pesticides will have a significant impact, despite the fact that over 60% of households in the United States raise pets. “Consumers are rarely included in calculating the environmental impact of dietary choices,” Okin adds.

Okin uses US public information source published by US Pet Products Association, US Kennel Club, US Department of Agriculture, US dogs and cats for one year consumed by French as a whole, or Americans Estimated to consume 19% calories. However, because dog food and cat food usually contain more meat than a normal human diet, our pet dogs and cats actually consume 25% of total calories from animals in the United States.

In fact, according to Okin, if 163 million dogs and cats in the U.S. have somehow established their country, that country ranks fifth in the world in meat consumption after Brazil, China, Russia and the U.S. Will rank in.

As a result, pet dogs and cats in the United States emit about 30% (mass percentage) of excreta of Americans, and their diet contributes to 25-30% of the environmental impact of animal-derived food production. is occupying. Dog food and cat food also cause large emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, which are strong greenhouse gases, which drive 13.6 million cars a year or emit 64 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. It is the same amount as when.

Okin said that at PloS ONE, our fluffy friends said, “Many substantial and recognizable benefits such as contact, increased physical activity, improved mental health and social capital, benefits for child development, and social status. "It will bring humans to the humans," he wrote that the point of his research is not in favor of a decrease in pet breeding. Many dogs are also service animals, and cats have been useful for pest control for a long time, but that doesn't mean Okin hasn't taken into account these positive effects of pet breeding.

Correctly, Mr. Okin wants to know the fact that dog and cat petting is not a “pure profit”, and vegetarian pets, hamsters and birds have much less environmental impact. Proposing that it may provide the same benefits as dogs and cats.

However, what is to be addressed is not just what the Americans are feeding their pets. Another issue is how much food Americans give their pets, which is a major cause of the unsustainability of pet food products and leads to pet obesity and unhealth. It is. The pet food industry is already aware of these issues and is pursuing alternatives to protein, while working to overfeed pets and reduce waste, says Okin. ing.

“I like dogs and cats and never recommend that pets be excluded from humans, or that vegetarian diets that may be unhealthy should be included in the pet's diet,” Okin said. It was. However, I think that we should ponder all the impacts pets have so that we can have a fair discussion about the environmental impacts. The impact on the environment is quite large.




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