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Cows absolved of causing global warming with nitrous oxide (Cows good, grass bad?)
TelegraphUK ^ | 7:00AM BST 08 Apr 2010 | Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent

Posted on 04/08/2010 5:07:48 AM PDT by Gordon Greene

Livestock could actually be good for the environment according to a new study that found grazing cows or sheep can cut emissions of a powerful greenhouse gas.

In the past environmentalists, from Lord Stern to Sir Paul McCartney, have urged people to stop eating meat because the methane produced by cattle causes global warming.

However a new study found that cattle grazed on the grasslands of China actually reduce another greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide.

Authors of the paper, published in Nature, say the research does not mean that producing livestock to eat is good for the environment in all countries. However in certain circumstances, it can be better for global warming to let animals graze on grassland.

The research will reignite the argument over whether to eat red meat after other studies suggested that grass fed cattle in the UK and US can also be good for the environment as long as the animals are free range.

Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, carried out the study in Inner Mongolia in China. He found that grassland produced more nitrous oxide during the spring thaw when sheep or cattle have not been grazing. This is because the greenhouse gas, also known as laughing gas, is released by microbes in the soil. When the grass is long snow settles keeping the microbes warm and providing water, however when the grass is cut short by animals the ground freezes and the microbes die.

Dr Butterbach-Bahl said the study overturned assumptions about grazing goats and cattle.

"It's been generally assumed that if you increase livestock numbers you get a rise in emissions of nitrous oxide. This is not the case," he said...

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: algore; enviromoralist; globalwarming; methane
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To: Gordon Greene

I find myself wishing for a massive volcanic eruption to occur to put these environazis in their place by showing them how little we can affect the environment.


21 posted on 04/08/2010 9:26:00 AM PDT by kickstart ("A gun is a tool. It is only as good or as bad as the man who uses it" . Alan Ladd in 'Shane')
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To: Gordon Greene

Since 80% of natural methane comes from swamplands.

So the obvious thing to do is drain all the wetland to save the environment.


22 posted on 04/08/2010 9:46:49 AM PDT by grjr21
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To: dangus

Nah... the end result is if the grass grows we have more greenhouse gas so the grass must die along with the cows, the cars, the people, the termites, and anything else living, breathing or moving. Sheer idiocy any way you cut it (pun intended).


23 posted on 04/08/2010 4:55:16 PM PDT by Gordon Greene (www.fracturedrepublic.com - I have a theory about how Darwin evolved... more soon.)
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To: Gordon Greene; 11B40; A Balrog of Morgoth; A message; ACelt; Aeronaut; AFPhys; AlexW; ...
Maybe people should simply stop worrying about this stuff.

DOOMAGE!

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You have been pinged because of your interest in environmentalism, alarmist wackos, mainstream media doomsday hype, and other issues pertaining to global warming.

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24 posted on 04/08/2010 6:08:11 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (I am Ellie Light. I hate slow drivers.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks; Gordon Greene
DUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!!
Cows like, reduce nitrous oxide aka NAWZ?!!!
We gotta stop 'em!!


25 posted on 04/08/2010 7:27:19 PM PDT by uglybiker (BACON!!)
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To: I cannot think of a name
We went from global cooling to global warming in what - just over a decade?

IMHO, that was the result of the USSR's Venera 7 probe in 1970 measuring the surface temperature of Venus. Temps on Venus were high enough to melt lead.

Our scientists switched from New Ice Age to Catastrophic Global Warming very quickly, and AGW has been the touchstone ever since.

26 posted on 04/09/2010 4:38:20 PM PDT by Ole Okie (t)
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To: kickstart

My wish came true! I think I will wish for a million $$ in the lottery.


27 posted on 04/17/2010 8:57:49 AM PDT by kickstart ("A gun is a tool. It is only as good or as bad as the man who uses it" . Alan Ladd in 'Shane')
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