When I first began this project and referring back to part one of the series, blogs I found were quick to create a tagline of “Carbon pawprint” and of course the newspapers are quick to blame having animals within your home as a part of the problem contributing to climate change.

The main problem with these blogs are that they are quick to set a solution of buying into their business to “reduce your animals carbon pawprint”, which don’t get me wrong, I love Ecologi and have been with them for many years now, which I will circle back to, but many of the blogs don’t seem to be as transparent nor as detailed.

This company has written a blog to blame animals in the home for creating a problem contributing to carbon dioxide production. Is quick to offer you a plan to sign up to, as an individual or family and vaguely tells you of the projects that you will be supporting and of course you get a personalised certificate to show everyone that you are a carbon friendly family. A bit of an oxymoron wasting more resources for a certificate. (1)

The blog begins by sharing statistics from 2021 that 3.2 million homes in the UK adopted an animal family member and specifically the PFMA (pet food manufacturers association) reports that 34 million homes in the UK share their home with animals. Specifically 12 million dogs, 12 million cats and 3.2 million small animals.

I am always sceptical of these kinds of statistics as I only personally partake in questionnaires for University research projects and not questionnaires for personalised information to the home. I’m sure I am not the only one who doesn’t share their personal life with marketing research.

Diet is the main factor that this blog specifically is blaming for animals’ contribution to carbon dioxide production. Ranging from 770 kg to 2500 kg of carbon dioxide each year. Specifically here is the first drip of “you can offset this right now from just £11 a year.” This also goes onto say that dogs may produce twice the amount of carbon dioxide of a car. So here we have the shock factor that may even make you feel panicked or scared.

So the marketing strategy is clear, as an individual researching and wanting to learn how to help the climate change crisis, you will quickly be drawn into blogs like these. Aiming to blame you as a guardian for contributing to the climate crisis.

Please don’t be panicked or scared if you do look into reducing your home’s carbon footprint. Within the animal industry it is sadly not unfamiliar for animals within our homes to be blamed for lots of problems across the globe, sadly they are a scapegoat.

So what can we do to help the climate change crisis and try to help the planet so that we aren’t causing more damage to the planet and maybe can reduce the damage to the environment and consequently changes to the extreme weather.

Ecologi – is a great company that is clear and transparent in their work and how the number of trees they plant offset CO2 with a calculator that constantly updates. You can join as a business and offset your employees, you can join as an individual or a family. They don’t want your animal family details and they don’t put you on a guilt trip or force you to feel obliged to join. You receive monthly updates of how many trees your membership has paid for each month and even give you a badge to show you how far you have come over time via email digitally (no paper involved). They do webinars and blogs as well as sharing helpful resources to learn as well as the option of gifts for birthdays etc but you have to go to the pull down tab to find this, it isn’t in your face. They are very clear as to who their team is, their awards and certifications globally and clear in showing you their work. When I go to my personal dashboard I can see that I have contributed to funding 314 trees, reduced 18.24 tonnes of CO2, which is the equivalent to 14 long haul flights being cancelled, (this is estimated for a plane going from the UK to San Francisco US), 55 metres 2 of sea ice saved and off setting 45,253 miles in a car. Which is pretty cool to see how the process works. If you would like to look into this further just follow the link https://ecologi.com/miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices?direct=true&r=5f934df95027ae001cbcb90a
Here are really helpful links to find dog food companies that are contributing to finding ways of reducing waste and creating packaging that is biodegradable and more. As well as the content and nutrients of the food produced and the impact on climate change.
https://doggieapproved.co.uk/frozen-raw-dog-food/
https://citydogexpert.com/environmentally-friendly-dog-food-companies-uk/
https://www.tinyecohomelife.com/Ethical-dog-food
Of course I checked out companies I regularly use such as Tug-E-Nuff who are clear and transparent about their own concerns over climate change. Anyone who is familiar with Tug-E-Nuff knows that your items come in a cardboard bag or box and this link takes you to their own climate pledge with their full transparency as a company to their reduction of their carbon footprint! https://www.tug-e-nuff.co.uk/pages/sustainability-statement#:~:text=As%20a%20family%2Drun%20business,part%20in%20preserving%20our%20planet.
Kong unfortunately have been in trouble with the UK government and fined £4,930 towards environmental projects due to not recycling the standard requirement at their Salisbury site. I cannot find a Kong website beyond the Kong club which doesn’t have any information on their climate policies. So check with who you purchase your Kong toys from. Here’s the link to the government website concerning the failure to recycle https://www.gov.uk/government/news/kong-pays-out-for-green-projects-after-breaking-packaging-rules
Beco is an awesome company who I’ve shopped with for many years for their climate positive attitude and products. Many people associate Beco with poop bags but they also do their own range of food, toys and accessories. Their bamboo bowls being one of my favourites from their range of accessories. https://www.becopets.com/blogs/impact/which-bag-compostable-or-recycled

So if you are concerned about your carbon footprint due to your animal family as well as joining companies such as Ecologi, doing your research and checking out what the companies policies are on climate change can help to give you peace of mind of how purchasing from the company will impact the planet.

Other things that you can do are shop from small businesses, many have already signed up to companies such as Ecologi. Shop locally, so that you are reducing your own carbon footprint. And of course you can also look into eco friendly products for yourself and home such as soap nuts for the washing machine and eco friendly cleaning products. Each little change like this could make a big difference to the future of the planet and the health and wellbeing of our dogs and other animal family members.

In part 3 I will be sharing more research currently known about the impact of climate change and our beloved dogs.

References

“The Average Carbon Footprint of a Pet.” ZeroSmart, 17 June 2023, http://www.zerosmart.co.uk/post/the-average-carbon-footprint-of-a-pet.