This story originally appeared Milling and is part of it Climate office cooperation.
I have been a vegetarian for over a decade. This isn’t because of my health or because I don’t like the taste of chicken or beef: it’s a lifestyle choice I made because I wanted to reduce my impact on the planet. And yet, twice a day, every day, I lovingly scoop a cup of meat kibble into a bowl and set it out for my 50-pound rescue dog, a husky mix named Loki.
Until recently, I didn’t pay much attention to this paradox. Then I read it article in the Associated Press titled “People often misjudge climate choices, study finds. One surprise is owning a dog.”
TestLed by environmental psychology researcher Danielle Goldwert and published in the journal PNAS Nexus, it examined how people perceive the climate impact of various behaviors, such as “switching to a vegan diet for at least a year” or “switching from a fossil fuel-powered car to renewable public transportation.” The team found that participants generally overestimated a number of low-impact actions, such as recycling and using capable appliances, and significantly underestimated the impact of other personal decisions, including the decision to “not buy or adopt a dog.”
The real purpose of the study was to see whether certain types of climate information could lend a hand people engage in more effective actions. However, just hours after the AP published the article, its purpose was transformed into an entirely different goal: an attack on furry family members. “Climate change is actually your fault because you have a dog” – one of them Written by a Reddit user. Other community members chimed in angrily, ridiculing the idea that a Chihuahua could be causing the climate crisis and calling on researchers and the media to stop pointing fingers at ordinary people.
Gold value etc her fellow researchers He watched the reaction unfold with horror. “If I saw a headline that said, ‘Climate scientists want to take away your dogs,’ I would be upset, too,” she said. “Definitely not,” she added. “You can quote me on that.”