Canines or SUVs? Carbon foot (paw) prints

Which do you think takes a bigger toll on the environment, owning a dog, or owning an SUV?

So asks Arnold Kling on his excellent blog and there has been a merry and fasincating discussion on the site ever since. I have never even considered buying a new SUV (my ever-reliable Citroen has done only 20,000 miles in seven years) but I do have an eye on getting a puppy sometime soon and I hadn’t even considered whether I should consider the environmental impact! 

As I hurtle through middle age, I am far more likely to spend an hour or two jogging and playing with my dog than I would watching tv; the marginal benefits of canine ownership and companionship are substantial to dog lovers, witness how many of them are prepared to pay huge vets bills to prolong their pets lives.

Kling makes the rather provocative statement ‘I personally have nothing against dogs. But it does seem to me that environmentalism inevitably points toward a policy of extermination of pet dogs. Unless environmentalism is simply hatred of industry.’ - presumably to send dog owning bloggers into a state of apoplexy!

What do you guys think?

Tuesday Talks - the cycling city [8 Mar 2011]
Innovation in a Material World [21 Mar 2010]
Graphic on environmental performance [24 Jan 2010]
Paul Romer on Growth and Cities [24 Oct 2009]
Revision: Green National Product [20 May 2009]
Revision: Sustainable Development [20 May 2009]
Electric cars - subsidise the consumer or producer? [9 Apr 2009]
Coal and CO2 emissions - Poland [12 Dec 2008]
Flood defences, cost benefit and opportunity cost [17 May 2008]
Revision: Climate Change Policies [10 May 2008]
Unsustainable world [17 Apr 2008]
Tim Harford takes a dig at green taxes [31 Mar 2008]
Interrelated markets and climate change [24 Mar 2008]
Fashionable changes in preferences [22 Mar 2008]
Fragile Earth Gallery [18 Mar 2008]
The London Pollution Charge [13 Feb 2008]

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