Another more important reason: The Truckee Meadows probably could sustain altogether a population of a hundred coyotes, wolfs, and foxes, but certainly not a thousand. Today, the urban area of Reno-Sparks is home for at least 100,000 dogs and other large pets, adding substantially to the footprint of their owners in terms of food, space, greenhouse gases, waste, and pollution. In a long causal chain, having these pets is responsible for people in other parts of the world starving and dying - including many children. Isn't that a crime against humanity?
As emphasized by James Lovelock, it is not just the mere number of human beings that is a problem for Gaia, it is also the many pets they own. In numbers, worldwide, we enjoy the company of billions of pets, pets that the natural environment would not be able to sustain. It must be easy to see that this is a significant increase of the human footprint on the world, and the world's pet load in the end will amplify the changes we force onto Earth.
Photo by Hans-Peter Plag, April 25, 2010, Reno, Nevada, USA.
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