5 ms·
How relevant are cow farts in global warming? is there a percent figure? as in cows contribute x% of gas emissions
by lucio 10y ago
How relevant are cow farts in global warming? is there a percent figure? as in cows contribute x% of gas emissions
- viridian 10y ago16.5% of methane emissions, give or take. If you could further apply this to all livestock, it's around 30%.
- 31reasons 10y agoCombining this with electric cars, we are looking at 50% reduction I think.
- kilotaras 10y agoCars produce CO2, not methane.
- return0 10y agowow thats an insane number
- pbhjpbhj 10y agoI thought it was mainly burps (eructation), read that somewhere recently, eg http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150803-cows-burp-methane-climate-science/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150803-cows-burp-....
- ricardonunez 10y agoHere are couple of articles about it. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/04/11/301794415/gassy-cows-are-warming-the-planet-and-theyre-here-to-stay http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/04/11/301794415/gas... http://timeforchange.org/are-cows-cause-of-global-warming-meat-methane-CO2 http://timeforchange.org/are-cows-cause-of-global-warming-me...
- blondie9x 10y agoWith deforestation to make cow farms and methane released, its estimated at 18-30%.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoHow does it compare with the great buffalo herds that roamed the plains 200 years ago?
- edmccard 10y ago>How does it compare with the great buffalo herds that roamed the plains 200 years ago? There are about 92 million cows and calves in the U.S. today.[1] Estimates for the number of bison at their peak range from 30 million to 60 million. [1]https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2016/01_29_2016.php https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2016/01_29_2016.php
- ced 10y agoI wonder too if the methane production from a modern cow fed for human consumption is very different from that of a wild buffalo.
- undersuit 10y agoGrass fed cows are supposed to produce greater than 40% more methane than the industry standard grain fed cows. This guy[1] seems to have thought a little about this too. [1] http://jaysonlusk.com/blog/2014/8/22/buffalo-extermination-environmental-catastrophe-or-savior http://jaysonlusk.com/blog/2014/8/22/buffalo-extermination-e...
- froh 10y agoThe really relevant thing is not the farts but 1. the CO_2 emissions for feedstuff production and transport, plus 2. the deforestation for said feedstuff production, plus 3. the insane ratio of agricultural surface requirements of plants-needed-to-feed-humans vs plants-needed-to-feed-cattle-to-feed-humans (which is approx. 1:10) For these very reasons organic meat is much better for CO_2 reduction. It doesn't use fossil fuels just to feed cattle, it limits the area foodprint of cattle production and by making meat scarcer, it last not least shifts meat based nutrition towards five-a-day nutrition.