Because it's a slow news day for anyone who doesn't want to obsess over the governorship of states they don't live in, we'll look at this interesting chart from Wired Science. It's based around a recent study done in New Zealand that tried to calculate the ecological footprints of our pets. Why? Because eco-snobs need something else to sneer at. Plus, after society collapses large dogs are going to be the new SUV's, compact terriers are going to be the new hybrids, and we'll all cry ourselves to sleep at night, so it's best to figure out classifications and carbon footprints now.
What they did find out is that we use 294 thousand square miles of land to feed our pets in America, roughly bigger than the size of Texas. Now I know what you're saying, "Hey, we've finally found a use for Texas", but it isn't that simple. Since our elected betters, when they aren't busy humping a pile of coal or denying global warming's existence, have recently taken to knocking solar power because of the land it uses, Wired decided to measure how much land it would take to solve all of the United States' power needs using solar. The answer is 16,602 square miles of desert land, or 17 times less land than we use for pet food.
Now I'm sure to the Natalie Portmans of the world, this just means we should burn our dogs for fuel instead of eating them. But I won't eat or burn my dog, Natalie, no matter how hot you are! But this, like the fact that we don't bat an eyelash on spending $680 billion a year on defense (without even factoring in our wars) but have a problem with $90 billion a year for health care, kind of puts a strange face on where Americans place their priorities. Now plow up that solar array, hippie, I'm buying two St. Bernard's.
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