Hell hath no fury like a pissed-off Labradoodle — Juno is shocked and disheartened

Dog-blogger, Juno, a six-year-old Labradoodle, lives with her MaPaw and PaPaw in beautiful Summerland in the British Columbia interior. She is a healthy, happy dog, but today we see a side of her few people or animals witness. When she gets angry, well, look out.

Hello everyone. I hope you are enjoying August as much as I am. Here in the BC interior we have been blessed with warm (sometimes a little hot) weather but virtually no wildfire smoke. Hallelujah. Other years, we choked. Elsewhere in our province and all across Canada the situation is far worse — evacuations in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and in neighbouring Nova Scotia; heat waves and smoke in large swaths of Ontario and Quebec; the fire map of Manitoba displays a devastating mosaic of wildfire activity all across that vast province. The sights and smells of extreme weather events are everywhere it seems.

Climate change is real; it is here, and its affects are felt now. It forces us to think about how we must live, in a new way, in a new age of intense fire storms. (For more, read John Vaillant here.) The climate crisis requires all of us to do our part to reduce climate risk and to modify our personal and consumer behaviors to save our planet from incineration and other effects of climate change such as flooding, water sustainability, and food insecurity.

For myself, and I know MaPaw and PaPaw join me in this ambition, we must all step up for the sake of the planet, for each other, and for future generations. I think I have been doing this most of my life. I eat sensibly; I exercise; I bring joy into the lives of others; I destroy few things (apart from a few stuffies). So imagine my shock to read in a recent CBC report that owning a dog contributes to climate change in a significant way. Really? This cannot surely be true? News to me. Some research is obviously required:   

Dogs are big meat eaters, and meat is a significant contributor to climate change. That is because many of the farm animals, which will become food, release methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Beef is especially impactful, in part because around the world cattle are often raised on land that was illegally deforested. Since trees absorb carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas, cutting them to then raise cattle is a double whammy.

The owner of a meat-eating pet can lower their impact by looking for food made from sources other than beef. Dog owners can try to minimize a dog’s carbon footprint by feeding them less carbon-intensive protein sources, including seafood and turkey.

All right, I do prefer lamb and chicken; I see there is a tin of turkey in the kitchen cupboard. We could, and should, investigate more food options. While important, food alone will not negate climate impacts.

The top three individual actions that help the climate are including avoiding plane flights, choosing not to get a dog and using renewable electricity. Skipping a single air flight saves about as much carbon as swearing off eating all types of meat a year, or living without a car for more than three months, according to UN estimates. Some of the biggest climate decisions individuals can make include how they heat and cool their homes and the types of transportation they use. Switching to renewable energy minimizes the impact of both.

Obviously, as we need a variety of responses to the climate crisis I feel some need to justify my existence with MaPaw and PaPaw. In my case, I suggest that any climate response liabilities are balanced by low-carbon advantages. The Gray family has always had dogs; I am part of a line of Labrador Retrievers, an Australian Shepherd, and the dogs of MaPaw and PaPaw’s youth. Now in retirement, MaPaw and PaPaw claim that I benefit them, and by extension, the world, in a variety of ways:

1. They schedule their lives around my needs. I get playtime and animal engagement; they get regular exercise and a wonderful network of friends who ground them in the life of our community; good health leads to a healthy planet; happy dogs make happy neighbours; happy neighbours make good citizens; good citizens make a healthy community;
2. Especially in winter, I provide heat and a warm cuddle to all couch sitters and sleepers, a pose when combined with a sturdy sweater means the thermostat can be lowered by at least two degrees centigrade;
3. We enjoy living in a small town, a very low-carbon existence where car travel times are short and cycling is convenient and safe; we avoid larger centres with their long commute times, polluted air, and limited access to green vegetation;
4. While my humans travelled by air in previous professional and recreational capacities they rarely travel by air now; their life (with me it must be said) is primarily local; and hey, just forget travelling to the US now; think of the savings in carbon and cash;
5. Finally I don’t shed; I don’t pass gas (I occasionally burp, though discreetly); I don’t even have a back yard n which to dig;

In sum, I believe I am climate conscious and only a minimal contributor to climate change. I am on the plus side of a zero sum climate care calculation. I encourage other dogs and owners to calculate your own carbon footprint. What is the real cost of your own activity, your own life, to the health of the planet? We’re in this together, human, creature, inanimate creation, all together. We can do this, together.

Visit the takenote.ca HOME page for a colourful display of hundreds of other blogs which may interest or inspire you.