it's a cat's life

You may recall I discussed my thoughts on the newspaper article about how your pet can be more environmentally un-friendly than a 4x4.

After careful consideration I am getting 2 cats. I still have some issues to work through. When they come to me they will still be kittens (i know i know, why not recycle a rescue cat? I was going to, and then these ones needed homes, so they are all cats aren't they, they all need homes? Maybe I should have left the kittens to someone who would never get a rescue cat? Well, I haven't. I am having kittens) so many of these questions don't need answering just yet.

The biggest question for me was should they be allowed outside? My dearest Mr Organik believes it is wrong to keep cats indoors. I believe it's OK especially if they have never been outside and you provide them with adequate facilities. My garden is very meadow like (where is this going? Hang on in there, I come back round to topic!) and attracts all sorts of wildlife. We had a "pet" fox one year, we have 2 squirrels regularly although I have only seen 1 recently, bees, birds, butterflies, and my favourite of all slugs, sometimes they even decide to join us in the house for a party. Had to nip that one in the bud! So anyway, we are a bit lazy and this is why the garden is as it is, but I am not a fan of the heavily manicured garden anyway, and a happy coincidence is the wildlife we support. So it seems a shame that my cats will lay that to rest. So I have decided they will be in at night, and certainly at dawn and dusk when cats do most of their killing. So, point one compromise with me and the mr reached, compromise with the environment reached.

Next point is cat litter... If I keep them in at night they have to have a litter tray. Most traditional cat litter is mined exclusively for the purpose of making cat litter. Hmmm. Not sure about this. So I looked into more environmentally friendly option, biodegradable pellets, shredded paper (my bills maybe?!!) but apparently they don't like this as much. There are complex environmentally friendly litter tray solutions, but these are all made of plastic, plus I am being given a litter tray and do not wish to create additional waste. I am considering training them to use the toilet. Everyone seems to think this is a crazy idea, but surely this is the most environmentally friendly option?

Next food... I am vegetarian. I do not intend to raise my cat as vegetarian. I think this is wrong. Everything I have read says cats, unlike dogs, need a meat based diet. But again, many cat food brands are either subsidiaries of evil companies, and/or they source meat as purely for cat food that would have been fit for human consumption, whereas there is meat left over from the human meat industry which could make cat food. I need to read more about this to decide.

I am trying to get natural cat toys and bedding and things too. Not things made of plastic and man-made materials. There is a brand at Pets at Home called Willow, where it all looks natural, but as it makes no claims to be organic or anything on it I am suspecting it is trying to cash in on the organic market without being that at all. Of course I can see it is made from sisal and hessian and things and not plastic so I can see with my own eyes it is less artificial than some of the toys.

So many questions, what are the answers?!

my poor neglected blog!

I ave neglected this a little. I haven't stopped the environmental cause though. I had a miscarriage, but while pregnant I was debating with myself the environmental impact of a child in a western, northern hemisphere country.

My considerations were - do I as a vegetearian eat fish to ensure my developing baby gets enough omega-3 for brain and eye development (I was eating a spoonful of flaxseed oil everyday anyway, bleurgh! But there are some question marks over whether this short chain omega 3 is useful even given the poor conversion rate to long chain omega such as that found in fish).

-what nappies will I use?
-will I use washable wipes?
-what about toys etc?

Then I had a miscarriage and had to wear pads (sanitary towels) while I was bleeding and spotting - 18 days. I normally use a mooncup and cloth pads at night, but I didn't have enough cloth pads, so I felt awful contributing to landfill. My wonderful husband points out that this is better for the environment than having a child! Hmm.

Anyway, we are getting cats so that throws up it's own issues. I have blogged on pets before, and my next post will either be about volcanoes and lack of planes in the sky (yay!) or about cats. I'm not sure yet, but let's hope it doesn't take so long as this post to happen!

Factory Farmed Organic chickens?

This would seem to follow naturally on from yesterday's "Chicken or Egg" post. And it does. Mr Brown Eyes and I were talking about whether one needs to own their own chickens in order for them to live in good conditions, or whether we can just pay someone else to do that for us, such as in the case of buying organic eggs.

We used to buy all our eggs free-range until I found out that free-range eggs are fairly routinely de-beaked, because of the unnaturally (if a chicken is at all natural) large flock sizes they live in. Since then we buy free range from a local farmer who does not debeak, or organic if we are elsewhere.

Mr Brown Eyes was saying that industry standard may even move towards organic, that actually there is nothing inherently wrong with large companies and even maybe monsanto (or someone equivalent in size and stature) could farm organic eggs. The thing is that I do not trust large capitalist organisations. They wait for us not to be watching, and then they cut a corner. When that has gone unnoticed they cut another one.

I also felt that I probably couldn't pay anyone to keep chickens as well as I would keep them if I had just 2 in my garden. I presumed an organic (the highest standard of animal welfare) chicken would not have as much space as they would if I just kept 2 in my garden. Or maybe some might, but certainly it would not be assured to be the case. I went using my friend "google" to try to find how much space they would have.

Before finding the answer I got distracted by the very thing that was my initial concerns - big companies not only being outside the law but actually writing the laws themselves (just wait til I get round to writing my GM post!).

I have just been reading an article in times online, admittedly dated in 2007 but nonetheless, stating that organic chickens are typically bred in windowless sheds, given vaccines and fed chemically treated food. Some even have their beaks "trimmed". Hmmm. Apparently this is allowed because of pressure from supermarkets which has resulted in the standards being changed to suit the big companies. I don't much like the fact I live in a country where rules are not made by politicians for people, but are made for profit for companies.

These chickens can be kept in conditions with 14 birds per square metre, they would definitely be better off as 2 in my garden. They are moved to more "organic" conditions as we know them only once they are economically viable.

The Soil Association seems to have the best welfare conditions, so i am going to beware anything organic that is not SA, which only accounts for 30% of organic eggs apparently.

I think I may actually adopt some ex-battery hens:
http://www.bhwt.org.uk/adopt_some_hens.php

I think there was more of a point to this post when I started writing, but I seem to have totally lost the thread!

Chicken or Egg? Or Cat?

I have been vegetarian for over 13 years, getting towards half of my life. For the past year or so I have been considering taking this to the natural conclusion of veganism. Last year I gave up cows milk (although somehow it crept back in, I think it might go out again this year). I only eat organic dairy when I eat dairy.

My eggs come from a local farmer, who doesn't use organic feed but does meet all the welfare requirements for organic, so I am happy with that. I couldn't see the problem with eggs on a small scale... the hen lays the egg whatever, in fact I do believe, but this could be myth, that they lay more the happier they are, so there is motivation to keep the hen on your side! The eggs they ave laid are not fertilised and so were never going to be chicks. Obviously in large scale farming them some chicks are hatched in order to get new hens and the cocks are killed. There are also welfare issues in standard farming, and even in free-range farming colonies are often too big and hens are de-beaked. (If you don;t know about de-beaking you should google this).

I started thinking I would like my own chickens. They are funny anyway, I quite like to watch chickens. Plus if I kept them myself I could ensure good diet, good conditions and love. Plus I would get eggs and could eat them guilt-free.

Then yesterday I was reading about how tiring it is for hens to lay eggs, and how really if their egg is not fertilised they like to eat it themselves in order to regain some of the lost nutrients. So, even if i kept my own hens maybe i still shouldn't eat the eggs? Maybe I could collect a couple of the eggs and let them have the rest? Would that be a compromise?

Then what about the cat I want to get? Pet owning was discussed in a previous entry. I could hardly have a cat and chickens, that wouldn't be very fair on either of them.

I just watched a video of a man who keeps chickens because he doesn't want a pet like a cat or a dog that just eats food and gives nothing back. Maybe I should get a chicken or 2 instead? I would have to construct somewhere safe so the foxes don't get them though...

A petty problem

We are currently a no-pet family, although I am hoping we will be getting cats, rescue cats, 2 of them, after Christmas. That was until my husband read an article in the Guardian saying that some pets are worse for the environment than an SUV. My first instinct was to be outraged. I want a cat, how can a cat be worse for the environment than an SUV? (To be fair, cats aren't it's medium and large dogs which are, according to the article). Then having gotten over my outrage I decided to think rationally - if cats really are that bad for the environment then maybe I shouldn't get two, or even one. It's no good only listening to the green info I want to hear.

I arranged my thoughts into some sort of order and then read the Leo Hickman (who I do really like, I subscribe to his blog, but must have missed this post, I have his books on my amazon wish list too!) article. So, the article is quoting research from Time to Eat the Dog by Robert and Brenda Vale which finds that a cat requires 0.15 global hectares to keep it fed, the equivalent of driving a VW golf for 10000 miles a year, plus the energy required to make the car in the first place. So my two cats is almost at the energy cost of buying a 4.6 litre Toyota Landcruiser and driving it for 10000 miles a year (0.41 global hectares). Luckily I don't drive a Toyota Landcruiser as well then!

My next thoughts all concern the fact that I would be getting a rescue cat, so that cat is already having that footprint regardless of whether I own it or not. So actually so long as I promote responsible pet owning and only get a rescue cat I should probably get the cats so as to reduce the load on the shelters. Plus if it is going to be having the footprint anyway someone might as well get the joy from it, which I would.

My next thoughts all concern all the positives about having a pet. For instance, the joy and love that I myself would get. Then there is the positive personal and social impact that pets have on children (which I don't have yet, but would like to, although of course they have a far larger footprint than a cat, no joke). The article also explained some additional benefits - people with pets have greater immunity and visit the doctor less, 21% less when they are elderly, how many global hectares does that account for one wonders. Plus the mental health benefits that pets bring.

I would also think I might be less likely to go out if I had a pet thereby reducing my consumption and waste in shops, pubs, restaurants and cinemas. Of course I don't drive a car at all, very often. We have a small car between us which neither of us drive very often. I walk to work and get the bus and train further afield, despite the additional time, money and stress costs that this can often entail. I take all my compostable waste to work, I bring home any recyclable waste from work. That's right - I carry bags of waste to and from work despite the fact I walk, often in the rain - because it is the right thing to do. I don't eat any animals (that themselves have an eco footprint), I try to minimise my plastic consumption, I try not to fly. I pay extra to have 100% renewable electricity from Good Energy. We try not to have the heating on, and didn't turn it on at all until December this year (except one freakishly cold day in November).

I don't think that doing that means I can do anything I like, indeed I hate to hear people say, "I can do this ungreen thing because I recycle most of my stuff at home". But actually, surely I have reduced my footprint by that of a cat, so I am still on a positive even if I do have a cat? Plus the fact that my children will be more socially adaptable and I will use the NHS less later in life, and I will go out less. Maybe all these things add up to a cat having less of a footprint than it would seem?

I do think we should consider the ecological footprint of activities we partake in and lifestyle choices we make, but I don't think that means we have to not do anything which carries a number, which everything does. It's a case of weighing up pros and cons, and making thoughtful choices. How many global hectares does going to a pub every friday and saturday take? How many global hectares for out of date food which has been thrown away (I eat yoghurts 2 months out of date), how many global hectares to buy a newspaper every day? How many to have a cup of tea every day?

I appreciate the article for giving me the chance to consider the impact of having a pet (which I already had from a vegetarian standpoint, but i think this post has maybe been going on for long enough!) and I have added the book to my wish list, but I have weighed it all up and will still be getting my cat in the new year :)

(do you know I didn't even discuss the indoor cat/outdoor cat arguments, maybe I will do that when I have the cat)