Amazing, but true, your adorable, precocious medium-sized dog whose presence in your life is a boon to your health, and, only occasionally a burden, also generates a carbon footprint larger than an SUV.

Taking into account the land needed to grow the food to feed a dog, a New Zealander couple who wrote the book Time to Eat The Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living calculated a medium-sized Fido has a carbon footprint of slightly more than 2 acres. By comparison, a Toyota Land Cruiser that gets an estimated 18 MPG in highway driving and is driven an unrealistic 6,200 miles annually generates a footprint about half that size or 1.01 acres.

Cat owners aren't in the clear either, as the average feline's carbon footprint is about a third of an acre, slightly less than what it takes to drive a Volkswagen Golf annually. And, the land required to feed all the felines living in just the top 10 cat-owning countries in the world amounts to 400,000 square kilometers, or 1.5 times the size of New Zealand. (All of the calculations made in the aforementioned book were independently calculated and verified by the Stockholm Environment Institute.)

Assuming getting rid of your pets is not an option for everyone reading this post, here are some things you can do to lessen their impact on the environment:

* Train your cat to use the litter box and don't flush their remains down the toilet or let them "do their business" outdoors.

* When walking your dog, stay away from wildlife areas, protecting more fragile ecosystems.

* Because meat production accounts for much of a pet's "eco-footprint," be a little more mindful about your furry family member's diet.

Physorg.Com December 21, 2009

New Scientist October 23, 2009