Now it's the cow
Published Mon, Jul 14 2008 2:59 PM
We've known for a while that cattle would be blamed for some contribution to global warming. We've been told that "Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together." We've seen how some "environmentalists" urge us to stop eating meat because it causes global warming. Last week The Daily Mail had a rather odd article entitled "Reducing cow burping 'is key to tackling climate change'". Here are a few highlights…
Researchers say the slow digestive system of cows makes them a producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide in efforts to fight global warming.
…
'When we got the first results, we were surprised. Thirty per cent of Argentina's (total greenhouse) emissions could be generated by cows,' said Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology.
…
Greenhouse gases are widely blamed for causing global warming. Methane, researchers say, is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere and can be found in animal waste, landfills, coal mines and leaking natural gas pipes.
Twenty three times more potent than carbon dioxide? So I wonder, what's the total atmospheric concentration of methane, compared to carbon dioxide? And remember, twenty three times a "trace amount" is still likely to be a trace amount.
Oh, and as a side note "leaking natural gas pipes"? Do they mean to tell us that methane is a "natural gas"? No, they can't have meant that!
Let's not forget that trees and other vegetation produce from ten to thirty percent of all of the methane emissions produced globally each year. I don't see environmentalists urging us to cut down the worlds' trees to reduce methane emissions, just to cut back on driving and eating meat. I also don't see anyone urging us to kill off the non-domesticated ruminants out there, like the herds of cattle that roam the African savannahs. Surely they belch and fart too?
The "cow burping" article does have a bright spot. They actually are proposing a solution, of sorts…
Scientists are working to develop new diets for cows that could make it easier for them to digest food, moving them away from grains to plants like alfalfa and clover.
'We have done a preliminary study and have found that by using tannins, you can reduce methane emissions by 25 percent,' said Silvia Valtorta of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigations.
I wonder where we'll get the land to plant all of that alfalfa and clover. Maybe we can stop using our farmland to grow ethanol? Maybe we can stop subsidizing the "non-use" of farmland?
Or maybe, just maybe we can admit that climate change isn't a "man made" phenomenon after all, and I can eat my steak in peace after driving home from work.
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David responded with: What a gas!
 | Yeh, this greenie gripe has been around a while. If eating beef is gonna cause warmer climate, I say "Eat more beef! Avert an ice age!"
*heh*
[Parenthetically...
Well, grain fed beef are far, far worse emitters of methane (which as you very well know is the primary constituent of "natural gas") than range fed beef. Not that that's the reason I eat range fed, no-hormones-or-antibiotics-added beef (Scottish Highland Longhairs--good beef if you can get it). I eat the stuff because
1. It plain flat tastes better than feedlot beef and
2. It's less expensive. Yes. LESS expensive (bought directly from a local rancher/farmer (they raise other food crops as well, and the eggs from their free range chickens aren't bad either).]
Join PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals) and feel good about yourself even if you eat feedlot beef. After all, averting an ice age is much more important than averting global warming. |
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