Don't tell anyone, guys, but I think I have a crush. It's not often I find a dog who loves the environment as much as I do, but Cedar does. In fact, she's so committed to the environment that she wrote a whole entire book about it! It's called Doggone Green: A call to action to save our earth.

In her book, Cedar teaches other dogs and cats about all the ways that they're already impacting the environment, and how they can step with a lighter pawprint -- and teach their humans to do the same. With some notes from her human mom, Kathy Deitsch, Cedar does a great job of explaining the unregulated pet food, bottled water and personal care product industries. Basically, the human's government allows those sectors to police themselves -- which, like Cedar says, is like letting the fox guard the henhouse.

Cedar also goes into lots of detail about a subject near and dear to our bottoms: poop. We may think that poop is good for the garden, but it isn't -- unless you compost it first. See, dog poop is full of bad bugs like hook worms, salmonella and E. coli, and cat poop may also contain the very dangerous toxoplasmosis parasite. Some poop bugs can live for more than a year in the soil. Worse, for city dogs, if poop is left on the concrete it's likely to get washed right into the storm drain, and out into lakes and rivers where it can harm aquatic life. Our poor fishy friends! But there are better ways to manage our waste, and Cedar has the, ahem, scoop.

In her book, Cedar also discusses indoor air quality, pet exposures to toxic chemicals, pet safety, the plastic problem, and the crusade against pet homelessness. It's a great way for pets and their parents to start digging a little deeper into green issues. She's one smart, brave dog -- and I'm proud to be a Doggone Green Crusader!

PS: That photo of Cedar is from her website. She's got a blog, too!