Looking for a good read? Try 'Time to Eat the Dog', by Robert and Brenda Vale. It's a real-life guide to sustainability, and is stuffed with references to footprints, embodied energy, and finite resources. It is, of course, a bit tongue-in-cheek at times, but they're serious about eating your dog. Did you realize it takes 2 acres of productive land to produce the food a dog (admittedly, a big dog... labs and such) eats in a year? And that's if he/she is a vegetarian. If it eats meat, the acreage zooms up. So when you combine that acreage with the number of acres it takes to grow the corn to produce the ethanol for your car... well, you are very very far from sustainability, and, with the 7 billionth human about to be born (July 1st), it's little wonder we have about half a billion food-challenged humans sharing this finite planet with us. That's a lot of kids going to bed hungry, and a lot of small brains not developing properly. It's very clear: You must eat your dog, or you will soon go to Hell. Simple, no? I'm sure Heidi can send everyone some recipes from her neighbors.
Seriously, though, it is something to think about. It's another of those pesky 'entitlements' that we need to rethink in ethical terms...in 2011 terms, instead of 'when I was a kid...'. Is it okay with you if those 2 acres it takes to feed your dog means some family in Guatemala or Nigeria will go to bed hungry? We've decided not to get a dog.
I've made placenta stew a couple of times. I'll be glad to try the same recipe with your dog. Let me know how many will be there for dinner.
Namaste.
Kirk
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