4 ms·

Cows produce huge quantities of Methane, which has a GWP of 40. They are a huge contributor to climate change.

• amanaplanacanal 5y ago
  If you are growing the same quantity of cattle then their methane in the atmosphere would be at steady state, not growing and therefore not contributing to change. If you grow more cattle then more methane would be produced. On the other hand, isn’t cattle production displacing wild ruminants? If we stop producing cattle, will nature fill in with bison, deer, moose, etc? It's possible that methane from cattle isn't any higher than methane from the wild ruminants they replaced. Had this been studied?
  • vineyardmike 5y ago
    >their methane in the atmosphere would be at steady state, not growing and therefore not contributing to change. Assuming that methane is removed from the atmosphere by something? AFAIK methane doesnt get consumed by anything natural, so it should just be growing in an absolute sense as long as total cows (and other producers) are above 0
    • heisenzombie 5y ago
      No, methane degrades in the atmosphere with a half-life of around 9 years.