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Here is a list of five tips from sustainlane.com on ways to make pet care more environmentally friendly. 

Some are pretty good suggestions, but some are rather vague and don't do much but sow the seed of idea on green ways to care for critters.

I know a lot of people are skeptical about the whole green movement. My take on it is that no matter what you believe about global warming or the fate of the planet, using less stuff and finding alternative uses for the stuff we already have instead of wasting it is a great way to save money.

And that's the kind of green most of us are particularly interested in saving now.

My comments are bracketed in italics. Post a comment and share your ideas on how eco-friendly or money-saving pet care.

 1. Spay today. Some 3,000 kittens and puppies are born every hour in the U.S. each year. As many as 8 million unwanted dogs and cats wind up at animal shelters and about 4 million of them are euthanized annually because no one will adopt them. What do the numbers have to do with the environment? Pet overpopulation is cruel to animals — and bad for the earth, too. Feral and abandoned pets suffer hunger and disease, foul waterways with their feces, and chase away or kill wildlife. Spaying is the best thing you can do to solve what many experts call a pet overpopulation crisis. Spaying is affordable, kind, and helps animals and nature in equal measure.

[Besides the impact on the environment, stray cats and dogs are a risk to public safety and a drain on tax dollars. Unless you are prepared to care for all the litters your pet will produce, get 'em fixed. And adopting a dog from a rescue group or a shelter is the best way to recycle.]

 2. Green the chow.You won’t see these ingredients on the label, but conventional pet foods contain earth-hurting (and dangerous) additives like pesticides, herbicides and hormones. If you see "meat or poultry byproducts" or "reconstituted animal byproducts" on pet food packaging, what you could be getting is waste material from slaughterhouses, including hair and blood. Some pet foods even contain byproducts from “4D” animals: the dead, diseased, dying, or disabled. Buy natural organic pet foods. They’re produced in eco-friendly ways and free of harmful chemicals, additives, and drugs.

[ Actually, the only way I know to really feed your pet, and your family, a completely organic diet is to buy fresh food from local farmers or grow it yourself. It's a great idea, may be a little hard to implement.]

 3. Go natural. Your pooch and kitty don’t need accessories made of vinyl, a major environmental evil (and instantly shred-able, to boot). Instead, pick up the natural alternatives, made with organic ingredients and produced in sustainable ways. Today’s marketplace is filled with dozens of green organic dog products and cat items, including everything from treats and beds to kitty litter and chews for that gnaw-happy puppy.

[ We try to avoid soft vinyl after Dexter got very sick from a toy chicken made of vinyl. I don't know how organic a Kong is, but since they are darn near indestructable, ours won't be in a landfill anytime soon.]

 4. No pile left behind. Dog poop is, well, a mess. Left ignored, it winds up on people’s shoes, spreads germs and runs into storm sewers and local waterways. And, depending on where you live, leaving it behind can get you fined. So make sure to pick up — in a biodegradable bags. (You’ll find loads of green poop bags in stores and online, including some that might even be safe to flush down the toilet.) Avoid using conventional plastic bags, which only preserve the waste longer at the local landfill.

[OK, maybe using a conventional bag for dog poop is not the most green alternative, but it's far better than just throwing them away. If your grocery sacks are going to end up in a landfill anyway, it's better that they at least served more than one purpose. Produce sacks make great poop bags. They are also good for wet bathing suits.]

5. Here, kitty, kitty.Many cat litters are made from non-biodegradable bentonite clay, which involves eco-damaging strip mining. Even worse, when cats lick their fur and paws they can wind up ingesting silica dust, a carcinogen that can cause lung disease, digestive blockages, and other health problems. What can you do? Use natural, biodegradable litters made with pine or other materials that don’t harm health.

[Easy to say unless you happen to live with my cat Thai, who will make deposits anywhere but the litter box if there is anything but cheap Tidy Cat in the pan. Clearly he doesn't care about his carbon paw print.]