Your dog is part of the problem of climate change: “I can build 100 rabbits that will not be close to dog emissions, because my dog is a meat -eating animal.”

A Ticket Recently, published by the National Academy of Sciences, I recently found that when they are asked to classify procedures, such as switching a car that uses gasoline for an electric car, or caring for cars or reducing food waste, the participants were not very accurate when assessing the extent of these procedures contributed to climate change, which often caused greenhouse gases that occur when it occurs like husbands, oil,

People set the effect on low -influential procedures in fact such as RecyclingIt reduces the effective carbon effect of the carbon behavior, such as Flying or Eating“The participation and professor of environmental social sciences at Stanford University said.

The first three individual procedures that help the climate, including avoiding flights, choosing not to get a dog and use renewable electricity, were also the three that the participants reduced more than others. Meanwhile, the less effective actions changed to more efficient devices, switching light bulbs, recycling, and using less energy to wash clothes. These were three of the four best procedures for exaggerating the report.

There are many reasons that people make mistakes

Flachino said that marketing focuses more on recycling and using energy -saving lights more than the reason that flights or adoption of dogs are relatively bad for the climate, so the participants were more likely to give these measures more weight.

How the human brain also plays a role.

“You can see the recycled bottle. This is clear. While carbon emissions, this is not visible to the human eye. For this reason we do not link emissions,” said Jiang Zhao, who teaches psychology and sustainability at the University of Columbia.

Zhao added that it is easier to introduce the procedures that we do often. “Recycling is almost a daily procedure, while flying is less frequent. It is less discussed,” she said. “As a result, people give a higher psychological weight to recycle.”

Of course, there is also a lot of misleading information. For example, some companies promote the recycling they are doing with the public not informed of pollution that comes from their total operations.

“There was a lot of deliberate confusion to support policies that are already old,” said Brenda Ecuerzel, a climate scientist in the Union of Primary Scholars, a non -profit organization.

Why have dogs a major climate effect

Dogs are large meat eaters, and meat is a great contributor to climate change. This is because many farm animals, which will become food, release methane, a greenhouse gas contributes to climate change. Cow meat is particularly influential, in part due to the fact that livestock around the world is often raised on the land that has been illegally removed. Since the trees absorb carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gases, the cutting of livestock is a double noise.

“People do not link pets to carbon emissions. This link is not clear in people’s minds,” said Zhao.

Not all pets are the same, but. Zhao has a dog and three rabbits.

She said: “I can build 100 rabbits that will not be close to dog emissions, because my dog is a meat animal.”

The owner of a pet that eats meat can reduce its effect by searching for food made from sources other than cow meat. Zhao, for example, tries to reduce your dog’s carbon fingerprint by feeding the lower carbon protein sources, including seafood and turkey.

Pollution from air travel

Aircraft emits a lot of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, as well as greenhouse gases. In addition, the planes are emitted from Contrail, or steam paths that prevent planet gases that aim to escape into space. A journey from the economy category is going back and forth in 737 New York to Los Angeles more than 1,300 pounds of emissions for each passenger, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations Agency.

Attracting this individual trip saves a lot of carbon as much as it gives eating all kinds of meat annually, or living without a car for more than three months, according to United Nations estimates.

Other decisions, both influential and secondary

The transition to energy that comes from renewable sources, such as solar energy and wind, has a great positive effect because such sources do not emit greenhouse gases. Some of the largest climate decisions that individuals can make how they heated and cooling their homes and the types of transport they use. The transition to renewable energy reduces the effect of the two.

Recycling is effective in reducing waste to the landfill, but its climate effect is relatively small because transportation, processing and recycling usually depends on fossil fuels. In addition, less than 10 % of plastic is recycled already, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Other decisions have an exaggerated effect, including washing clothes in cold water and turning into more efficient lighting lamps, relatively less important. This is because these devices have a relatively small effect compared to other things, such as flights and dogs, so improvement, although they are useful, have a much more limited effect.

Experts say that the best way to combat the human inclination to hide climate -related decisions is more easily available. Zhao said that people are already more accurate in their estimates than it was 10 or 20 years ago because it is easier to learn.

The study supports that hypothesis. After the participants finished classifying the procedures, the researchers correct their mistakes, and changed the measures they said would take to help the planet.

“People learn from these interventions,” said Vlasceanu. “After learning, they are more willing to adhere to more influential actions.”

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