Pets and the Environment: Help Write the Book

Taking my cue from my home town Portland’s reputation as a green city, I’m writing a book for Wiley Publishing about how to “do pets” as eco-sensitively as possible.

“Pets and the Planet: A Practical Guide to Sustainable Pets” will help pet owners select, feed, and care for their pets with a focus on what’s best for the environment. Here’s where you come in. I’d like your questions and tips about “going green” with pets. To earn your help, I’ll give you this sneak preview tailored for Portland area residents.

Dog poop disposal is a big topic, but Portland residents will get a break after 2009, when curbside residential food waste recycling starts. The commercial composting temperatures will allow us to compost dog poop safely. Until then, no composting dog waste, even if you have compostable bags. It’s not the bag, it’s the parasites in the bags.

For dog waste disposal, the bag to use is the “BioBag.” or an equivalent that is biodegradable and compostable. Look for the green logo (see photo) to assure the product you buy is 100% biodegradable and compostable. This certificate is based on the strictest standard, the European one.

Certificates that look like the logo below show that the bag is intended to be composted in a municipal or commercial facility and meets U.S. standards (read “not as strict as European standards” for composting. [Insert white logo]

Cat friends, please know that clay-based litters are strip-mined, with all that implies; the top layer of earth removed, and clay stripped off. Use a plant-based litter if your cat can adapt. The gel-pearl litter also works well and lower quantities are needed. However, the litter is expensive and does not adhere to the main principle of recycling, which is to reuse. In either event, if you use kitty pan liners, look for the green logo above.

If you just don’t “do” poop, Alan Pietrovito, a professional pooper-scooper, owns Portland’s Doody Calls. Passionate about protecting the environment, Alan believes he has a responsibility to show leadership, so he looks beyond his current business in proposing a local methane digester for pet waste in Portland.

Opportunities exist to make green choices other than about pet waste disposal. We also make choices about the type and source of our pets, what we feed them, how we supply their daily needs, what kind of services we use (vet, groomer, daycare), how we exercise our pets, and how we mange our interior environment for household health. I’ll be writing about these topics in the months ahead.

I need your help in making this book as useful as possible. Please post your questions and tips below. For posting tips or suggesting stories I can use in the book, you’ll receive a pet-related prize.