Dogs

Dogs have been symbiotic with people for 15,000 to 30,000 years. That's a long time. I can't bring to mind a culture without them (even the Hawaiians had the poi dog, for both meat and good luck). We may have traded off some of our animal traits, such as a keen sense of smell, for the responsibility of keeping an animal that deployed those traits on our behalf. This often happens in symbiotic relationships.

So why do people forget about dogs when they talk about building a sustainable future?

One reason is that dog food's got a lot of meat in it and agribusiness meat has a high carbon footprint. Perhaps, people think, it's impossible to keep such a pet and still live sustainably.

Or, perhaps they don't think much at all about dogs. I think this is because when people grieve, which is what we are doing when we talk about the state of the planet and our expectations for its future, we tend to feel isolated. Dogs are so dang social, if you started thinking about your dog, you'd have to stop thinking about how awful things are.

I'm not advocating keeping dogs simply in order to keep your mind off of more difficult matters. But I am asking that we keep them in our consciousness. Don't forget them. Any future that's dogless is going to be sadly diminished. Any future that's dogfull should take into account how to make it more sustainable.