Apparently, man’s best friend is now public enemy number one in the war on climate change.

That’s one of the headline takeaways from a new study published by the National Academy of Sciences, which asked Americans to rank the climate impact of various personal choices — from ditching plane flights to swapping lightbulbs. The top three “most effective” actions, according to the scientists? Avoiding flights, using renewable electricity, and… not getting a dog.

The reasoning? Fido’s a meat eater. And meat, especially beef, is a high-emissions business thanks to methane-belching livestock and deforested grazing land. In other words, golden retrievers’ kibble habit is apparently dooming the planet.

“People just don’t associate pets with carbon emissions,” said Jiaying Zhao, a psychology and sustainability professor at the University of British Columbia. Zhao, notably, owns one dog herself — plus three rabbits, which she assured reporters don’t come close to the emissions of her carnivorous companion.

Study co-author Madalina Vlasceanu of Stanford University says most people misjudge what matters. Folks tend to pat themselves on the back for recycling or swapping lightbulbs, she explained, but those actions rank far below avoiding air travel, cutting meat consumption — or pet abstinence — when it comes to carbon savings.

This is partly because we can see ourselves recycling, while emissions from flights or dog chow are invisible. And marketing campaigns, she added, have pushed feel-good but low-impact habits, instead of tackling more politically fraught targets like flights, steaks, and Labradors.

For perspective, the study notes that a single round-trip economy-class flight from New York to Los Angeles emits over 1,300 pounds of CO₂ per passenger. That’s roughly equivalent to giving up all meat for a year or parking your car for more than three months.

Even Zhao, who champions the finding, admits she hasn’t exactly gone pet-free. Instead, she feeds her dog seafood and turkey to keep his “carbon pawprint” down.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)