Everything is caused or not caused by climate change. It is the inevitable, never-changing source of blame for any societal ill, real or imagined, but largely imagined. Rain? Climate change. No rain? Climate change. Flood? Climate change. Dought? Climate Change. Tuesday? Climate change. Trump? Climate change. Dogs? Climate change.
What?! Dogs?! Dogs, as MPR News explains:
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"People over-assign impact to actually pretty low-impact actions such as recycling, and underestimate the actual carbon impact of behaviors much more carbon intensive, like flying or eating meat," said Madalina Vlasceanu, report co-author and professor of environmental social sciences at Stanford University.
The top three individual actions that help the climate, including avoiding plane flights, choosing not to get a dog and using renewable electricity, were also the three that participants underestimated the most.
I wonder why that happens? Perhaps because that assertion is nonsense on stilts? Statistics are, at best, uncertain, but apparently most Americans don’t fly in a given year. I haven’t flown since 2019; I’ve had no reason to. I suspect that’s true for most people, so like most Americans, saving the climate by not flying doesn’t occur to me, and if it did, I’d dismiss it as I dismiss all climate hysteria.
Renewable electricity? Again, nonsense, and who has a choice even if they’re a climate hysteric? Is there a master switch in every home allowing a choice between “regular” and various types of “renewable” electricity?
And dogs? People making that claim are unhinged. Of course, you already knew that because they’re climate hysterics.
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.
There it is: cow farts. I’m surprised they didn’t bring up canine farts. So, cutting down trees to raise cattle, which the human race needs to survive, is bad. Cut down trees to raise food and humanity dies? Climate change? Sure, because plenty of climate change hysterics argue for population control and a return to an idyllic pre-industrial way of life, where illnesses we easily treat were death sentences to say nothing of rampant starvation. Ah, those were the days. Life and ideology were purer then.
The author suggests feeding dogs other stuff like Turkey or seafood, because that’s “less carbon intensive.” Which recalls a classic story of a dog food company marketing a new dog food. It wasn’t selling, so they hired a high-powered consultant who, after intense study, reported back: “the dogs don’t like it.” It’s not as though American dog owners feed their pets pounds of raw beef, but if the dogs don’t like Flounder, their owners aren’t going to buy it, and they’re not thinking of the climate because they’re usually not climate hysterics.
They’re not because every prediction of doom made by climate hysterics has failed to materialize. We’ve been facing certain extinction every ten years going back to the birth of climate hysteria. I grew up facing an imminent ice age. Then the population bomb. Then global warming, melting glaciers, a world-wide flood, polar bear extinction, melting polar bears…OK, I made that one up, but that’s just because they haven’t thought of it yet. And then, when nothing worked, they came up with the all-purpose, unfalsifiable, money-making disaster: climate change.
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Dogs really are man’s best friend, and cats are a not too distant second. Harry Truman was right when he said if you want a friend in DC, get a dog. They love you no matter what, and they’re always glad to see you. They act like you’ve been gone forever even if you’ve been gone an hour. They can read your moods and do everything they can to cheer you up or make you feel better if you’re down or ill. As the country song goes: “My wife done run off with my dog; oh, how I miss him.”
Our pets live such short lives but make our lives immeasurably better. Climate change hysterics and the politicians they pay off have made them worse. If it comes to a choice between dogs and them, even many Democrats would happily choose a wagging tail and adoring gaze, neither of which you get from climate hysterics.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.