While John Harvey was working as a veterinarian in Devon, England, his clinic looked for ways to lower its carbon footprint. They installed energy-efficient light bulbs. This got Harvey thinking: What about the animals? How much did pets impact the planet?
Take their food. Dogs and cats eat a meat-based diet. Raising livestock for meat uses a lot of land, water and energy. It also contributes to climate change by producing greenhouse gases. Harvey suspected pet food would have a large carbon footprint, but he couldn’t find much data on it. So in 2024, Harvey started studying how different types of dog food affect the planet. Now, he’s a researcher at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the University of Exeter in England.
Explainer: CO2 and other greenhouse gases
Outdoor dogs and cats may also hunt or scare local wildlife...
English (US)