In their book Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable living, Robert and Brenda Vale say keeping a medium-sized dog has the same ecological influence as driving 10,000 km a year a 2.0 liter car.
“We’re not actually saying it is time to eat the dog. We’re just saying that we need to think abut and know the ecological influence of some of the tings we do and that we take for granted.”
Constructing and driving the jeep for a year requires 0.41 hectares（公顷）of land, while growing and manufacturing a dog’s food takes about 0.84 hectares—or 1.1 hectares in the case of a large dog such as a German shepherd.
Convincing flesh-eating cats and dogs to go vegetarian for the fate of the planet is a non-starter, the Vales say. Instead they recommend keeping “greener”’ smaller, and more sustainable（可持续的）pets, such as goldfish, chicken or rabbits.
The book’s playful title, and serious suggestion that pet animals may be usefully “recycled”, by being eaten by their owners or turned into pet food when they die, may not appeal to animal fans. Annoying as the idea may be, the question is valid given the planet’s growing population and limited resources, Robert Vale said.
“Issues about sustainability are increasingly becoming things that are going to require us to make choices which are as difficult as eating your dog. It’s not just about changing your light bulbs or taking a cloth bag to the supermarket,” he said.
“It’s about much more challenging and difficult issues,” he added. “Once you see where cats and dogs fit in your overall balance of things, you might decide to have the cat but not also to have the two cars and the three bathrooms and be a meat eater yourself.”
【小题1】What does the Vales’ book mainly focus on?| A．The animals’ rights. |
| B．The way to raise pets. |
| C．The influence of driving cars. |
| D．The environmental protection. |
| A．Teaching animal fans. |
| B．Recycling pet animals. |
| C．Killing animals for food. |
| D．Protecting homeless animals |
| A．Easy. |
| B．Inspiring. |
| C．Impossible. |
| D．Challenging. |
| A．Taking a cloth bag to the supermarket is difficult to carry out. |
| B．Raising sheep is a good idea for animal fans in the Vales’ opinion. |
| C．The bigger pet animals are, the worse ecological influence they have. |
| D．Driving cars is more environment-friendly than keeping pet animals. |
