Dog Poop or Plastic
Which is the greater insult to the Earth?
I stand in the checkout line at the grocery store, minding my own business when I am confronted with an environmental dilemma.
“Is plastic ok?”
Well, is it? I feel the stink eye from all those who are filling their reusable cloth grocery bags for the good of the earth. I want to scream loud enough for all to hear, “Yes, plastic is ok. Because I use the bags to pick up after my dogs!”
In order to comply with city and county laws I pick up the poop when I walk my dogs. And I use the plastic grocery bags most of the time. The other times I use the plastic bags provided at trail heads or purchased at pet stores. But all that plastic still winds up in landfills where by most estimates it could take 10–1,000 years to degrade. And that’s not even taking into consideration the millions of barrels of oil used in one year of manufacturing the bags. Another insult to the planet.
So, I get the stink eye from my more environmentally astute shoppers. And I get the stink eye if someone sees me not pick up after my dog.
While growing up in the country I never gave dog poop a second thought. It was just something that was always in the yard, in the pasture and around the barn. Yes, we stepped in it both shod and unshod. So what, just wash it off with the…
