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Also 'endure climate change' is so grossly ironic. Instead of factoring in the costs of our actions, engineer ways to lower price and feed more demand -> and t
by dillondoyle 5y ago
Also 'endure climate change' is so grossly ironic.
Instead of factoring in the costs of our actions, engineer ways to lower price and feed more demand -> and thus creating more methane, forest destruction, emissions from feed, huge waste of water, and all the gas shipping it a continent away.
If people won't reduce their beef consumption, maybe we can crispr out some methane (seems not possible just based on chemistry but who knows?). Or maybe just let the real price with externalities lower consumption.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoThe methane isn't from the cows, it is from the bacteria in their gut. It can be greatly reduced with supplemental feeding that changes the microbiome
- Eduard 5y agoThe methane isn't from the bacteria, it is from their food. If the inefficient cow/bacteria processing step is skipped, the whole production pipeline is greatly more climate-friendly.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoMore specifically, it is a waste product from bacteria digesting the food. The food doesn't turn to methane without the bacteria. https://jasbsci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40104-017-0145-9 https://jasbsci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40104-01...
- matthewdgreen 5y agoBut genes to appear to modulate gut microbiota composition on other animals, so it's not impossible that there is some genetic modification (to cattle) that would have the desired effect.
- s1artibartfast 5y agooh, I totally agree that there could be some design space around this.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoAnother alternative is GMO feed that contain some of the same nutrients as seaweed. Gene transfer might be easier between seaweed and feed then seaweed and cow
- matthewdgreen 5y agoI've read a lot about this, but is it being done at any scale? And how much extra does it cost?
- s1artibartfast 5y agoNot that I am aware of, but I am far from an expert in the area. This paper[1] suggests it would cost about ~20 cents per lb of beef https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0247820 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
- dillondoyle 5y agoVery cool to see the knowledge of guy/microbiome growing. I wonder if that means it would actually be possible, more likely I would guess to modify the corn or whatever gross food we feed most cows.