Killer cow emissions (Cause more global warming than autos)

LA Times ^ | 15 October 2007 | Staff

[shrinkermd]

It's a silent but deadly source of greenhouse gases that contributes more to global warming than the entire world transportation sector, yet politicians almost never discuss it, and environmental lobbyists and other green activist groups seem unaware of its existence.

That may be because it's tough to take cow flatulence seriously. But livestock emissions are no joke.

Most of the national debate about global warming centers on carbon dioxide, the world's most abundant greenhouse gas, and its major sources -- fossil fuels. Seldom mentioned is that cows and other ruminants, such as sheep and goats, are walking gas factories that take in fodder and put out methane and nitrous oxide, two greenhouse gases that are far more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. Methane, with 21 times the warming potential of CO2, comes from both ends of a cow, but mostly the front. Frat boys have nothing on bovines, as it's estimated that a single cow can belch out anywhere from 25 to 130 gallons of methane a day.

It isn't just the gas they pass that makes livestock troublesome. A report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization identified livestock as one of the two or three top contributors to the world's most serious environmental problems, including water pollution and species loss. In terms of climate change, livestock are a threat not only because of the gases coming from their stomachs and manure but because of deforestation, as land is cleared to make way for pastures, and the amount of energy needed to produce the crops that feed the animals.

[Red Badger]

I’ll haveta ruminate on this for a while.............

[MrB]

So, the secular socialists don’t want us driving cars or eating meat,

and they’ve found another way to attempt to use the government to make us comply - global warming.

But then, we all knew this was the underlying reason for the hysteria in the first place.

[xcamel]

FReepmail me to get on or off
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH

---

Eleventy-third rehash of this bovine flagellates..

[edcoil]

Do ants fart? There are a few billion people, a few hundred billion mammals hanging around but there must be billions and billions of ants.

I thing its the ants, not the cows. PETA just wants to blame beef -

[xljamz]

So can I just order the Big Kids’ Happy Meal instead of paying AlGore for my carbon footprint?

[capt. norm]

I’m going to have a big rare steak and know that I’m doing my part to decrease GHG’s. (So-called “Greenhouse Gases”)

[camle]

I do my part - I eat as many cows as I can. And pigs, and chickens...

[truthluva]

So will there be no more livestock if these crazies have their way/ What, we all have to become vegetarians? Will they do away with beans then?

[Carry_Okie]

Bison emissions, on the other hand, are praiseworthy and natural, superior in every way.

[wastedyears]

So shall we plug the rears of steers now?

[the_devils_advocate_666]

Wonder how much emissions in a dinosaur fart?

[Mogollon]

If the slight rise in temperature is due to greenhouse gases (C02, water vapor, methane) why does the very accurate temperatures taken by satellites show that there is a cooling trend in the trophosphere?

Also, the most abundant greenhouse gas is water vapor, not CO2.

[Thebaddog]

Jeez. these moon-bats can go from cow poop to deforestation to all things that fit their PC template in one article. The really ironic thing is that their entire template is based on erroneous assumptions. But they get an alternative universe of beliefs that counter the way things are.

[BigFinn]

Forget the cows... drive by the hyperium in El Segundo CA some time... talk about emissions...eeewww.

One of these days, it (which will probably be passed by some nitwit-liberal-greenie Calif. court or legislature ruling) will be unlawful to visit John, more than once a day for fear of gaseous emissions...

[RoadKingSE]

Seldom mentioned is that cows and other ruminants, such as sheep and goats U.S. Senators, are walking gas factories..

[Malone LaVeigh]

Do ants fart?

Actually, termites are supposed to be notorious methane producers:

[Hemorrhage]

Then we cannot accurately say I’m not doing my part to combat global warming ...

I have structured my diet so that at least one cow per day is taken off this planet in the making of my dinner.

Tonight ... medium rare porterhouse.

H

[ridesthemiles]

National Geographic ways that TERMITES world-wide are the largest source of methane.
They are much smaller than a cow, but there are trillions and trillions of termites, and combined, they produce par more methane than bovines.

The LA TIMES cannot get much information straight, and most of them are probably vegetarians, so what is their true agenda here???

[p. henry]

Did the author of this article really say the threat from cows is "silent but deadly?"

Folks, life on earth is carbon based. Every living thing on this planet liberates carbon. Some things (trees in tropical rain forests and temperate evergreen forests, for example) are net consumers of atmospheric carbon, but most of the rest of us, be we humans, ants, meadowlarks or whales, are net contributors to atmospheric carbon.

One of the most offensive things about Kyoto fans is their conceit that our use of fossil fuels is statistically significant in the context of the carbon liberating biomass that we call Earth.

[gimme1ibertee]

Leave it to the LA Times to raise a stink.

[TheDon]

Save the environment,
kill an environmentalist!

[gimme1ibertee]

Nope..just stockpile some Gas-X! :D

[Badeye]

Sve the planet, eat a porterhouse....

[crazyshrink]

But, but, but.......cows do it better....

http://www.gsf.de/neu/Aktuelles/Presse/2007/klimagase_en.php

Study of how cows make it worse by walking!

[Califreak]

Let them eat Tofu!

[gimme1ibertee]

I learned as a child that there is a collateral realtionship between humans and trees,in that trees give off oxygen and we take it in,and vice-versa with the CO2.
Was I taught wrong as a child or what? Please excuse my ignorance as I am not a science major,but that’s how I thought it went.

[gimme1ibertee]

I learned as a child that there is a collateral realtionship between humans and trees,in that trees give off oxygen and we take it in,and vice-versa with the CO2.
Was I taught wrong as a child or what? Please excuse my ignorance as I am not a science major,but that’s how I thought it went.

[TASMANIANRED]

Total BS.

[golfisnr1]

I see it now -— fart bags on cows.

[Go Gordon]

Most of the national debate about global warming centers on carbon dioxide, the world's most abundant greenhouse gas, and its major sources -- fossil fuels.

Wrong. Its major source is water vapor.

[maine-iac7]

there were an estimated 60 million buffaloes in the 1700's - some hers were so large it could take days for one to pass through an area -

There were also a lot more moose, How did the world survive?

[maine-iac7]

TERMITES world-wide are the largest source of methane.

You are so right!

just one link:

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/atmosphere/atmospheric_composition_p2.html

Excerpt:

"Methane is a product of the decomposition of organic matter, with major natural sources being that which occurs from wetlands and termites. A major source of methane is from termites. Termites eat wood and produce methane as a result of the breakdown of cellulose in their digestive tracts. They are thought to be responsible for 11% of the methane in the atmosphere (some estimates are as high as 20% - 40%). "

Just damn. Now what am I going to fix for supper...

[maine-iac7]

"hers" = herds

[crazyshrink]

It gets better. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics have now discovered that plants themselves produce methane and emit it into the atmosphere, even in completely normal, oxygen-rich surroundings. The researchers made the surprising discovery during an investigation of which gases are emitted by dead and fresh leaves. Then, in the laboratory and in the wild, the scientists looked at the release of gases from living plants like maize and ryegrass. In this investigation, it turned out that living plants let out some 10 to 1000 times more methane than dead plant material. The researchers then were able to show that the rate of methane production grew drastically when the plants were exposed to the sun. *********************** http://www.physorg.com/news9792.html **************************** Al Gore's hyperbole:

[Eric Blair 2084]

[RedMonqey]

It’s not the ants butr termites that release the methane.

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

I fart in your general direction you silly enviroperson.

[freekitty]

I have often wondered why they are targeting cow farts. I mean, doesn’t the healthy crowd trying to take them off the market eat the same thing the cows do?

Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? LOL not

[Grampa Dave]

We must eat more beef steak, prime rib, ribs, roasts and hamburger to save the world from these beasts from hell.

[maine-iac7]

There’s only one solution for our survival - turn the whole world into a dessert - that would mean the oceans too as they are they biggest producer of CO2

[p. henry]

You were taught correctly. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Deciduous trees also shed their leaves which, as they decay, emit CO2. That is why evergreen trees are preferable to deciduous trees if you accept that global warming exists, is bad, and is caused in significant part by increased concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere.

[maine-iac7]

Just damn - does that mean I'll have to switch over to - ah, just what living animal doesn't fahrt?

(hope this doesn't post multiple times - getting that temporarily unavailable" thingy again...)

[crazyshrink]

“There’s only one solution for our survival ......”

eliminate/marginalize AGW fearmongers????

[maine-iac7]

So would this get better mileage per emissions?

[crazyshrink]

“Most of the national debate about global warming centers on carbon dioxide, the world’s most abundant greenhouse gas, and its major sources — fossil fuels.”
***************
Of which used to be running and growing around on Earth as living and breathing dinosaurs and jungles. Where was Al Gore during that time?

[Froufrou]

Too deep for me [steps out of cowpie...]

[JustDoItAlways]

Methane is not increasing and hence the cows are zero responsible for the zero increase.

[Ditto]

Most of the national debate about global warming centers on carbon dioxide, the world's most abundant greenhouse gas...

Ignorance. Pure ignorance.

[Ditto]

In terms of climate change, livestock are a threat not only because of the gases coming from their stomachs and manure but because of deforestation, as land is cleared to make way for pastures, and the amount of energy needed to produce the crops that feed the animals.

But if it is buffalo numbering in the many millions roaming the then treeless American Great Plains 200 years ago, farting and burping every bit as much as beef and dairy cattle do today.... well that's just somehow different. Or it could be the great herds of Elephants, Zebra or Wildebeest in Africa that are now just a shadow of their former self. Instead, some poor African farmers goats or sheep are a problem.

These people are so damn brainwashed that they have completely lost their ability to think.