Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Editor’s note: This was a blog post that originally appeared on the blog for Simran Sethi’s Media and the Environment class.
Carbon dioxide soaks up the limelight as the big bad wolf of global warming, but its partner-in-carbon-crime, methane, might huff and puff and build up in our atmosphere first.
nutgraf
It’s the most inconvenient truth of all, Al Gore: Eating steaks and hamburgers is killing the planet (among other things).
A large source of atmospheric methane is from the world’s cattle.
Every day, one cow farts and burps 240 liters of methane. That’s 120 two-liter bottles filled with silent-but-deadlies multiplied by the world’s 1.3 billion cattle.
It’s the most inconvenient truth of all, Al Gore: Eating steaks and hamburgers is killing the planet (among other things).
Not once in his 96-minute presentation did Gore mention methane. But methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and emissions have increased by 240 percent since 1994, when carbon dioxide has increased only 30 percent in the same time.
Scientists are attempting to correct the problem by altering the bacteria in the cow’s stomach. But we are failing to address the real problem: our increasing consumption of meat.
Not to toot my own horn, but becoming a vegetarian is a more sustainable lifestyle. I wouldn’t dare suggest that everyone become a vegetarian, but saving meat for certain occasions may save the planet. All food can be made with meat substitutes or without meat.
Feedlots, especially in western Kansas, forget that global warming will hurt them from rising temperatures but no extra rainfall. Warmer temperatures will force them to pull water from the already water-stressed aquifer.
Global warming is playing its own version of natural selection by changing the types of plants found in Kansas. Plants resistant to droughts survive while native species die. If grazing animals refuse to eat these new plants, companies would move north to find suitable plants again, taking a devastating portion of Kansas’ $7.3 billion agriculture industry with it.
Eliminating beef from your diet may seem a little un-Kansan, but making up for that by eating locally grown produce should keep farmers in business.
Whatever the solution, we can’t keep farting around with such a serious problem.
Cows, cows, the musical food. The more you eat, the more we’re screwed.
Keith is a Wichita sophomore in journalism and environmental studies. She is the Kansan associate opinion editor.
Greening it
Your guide to greener living
Keith: Jesus is coming; look busy
The ten commandments of environmental love
Greening it
Your guide to greener living
Editorial: Don't make Holcomb another crime scene
The proposed coal-fired power plants in Holcomb would contribute 11 million tons ...
Excessive meat consumption could pose health risk
Dieticians say students should balance diets and avoid high-fat red meats.
Power plant construction alarms Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is suing the state of Kansas because of a ...
Grass-fed cows are what’s for dinner
Mel and Joyce Williams raise grass-fed cows as opposed to grain-fed, and ...
Veggie tales
Meat free— the way to be?
NASA researcher discusses climate change
James Hansen speaks about CO2 emissions and the crisis’ ongoing challenges.
Editorial: We can all help conserve energy
With global warming becoming more of a problem, now is the time ...
Everybody farts
From “silent but deadlys” to long sequenced medleys, your ass is full ...
CO2 emissions may affect flowering plants
Professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Joy Ward and post doctoral researcher ...
Keith: What global warming has to do ...
Seminar addresses global warming
A professor of science from Maine addressed the many theories to put ...
Schumaker: Please don’t yell at me for ...
PETA's intentions may be good, but their approach is laughable.
Petterson: Coal power given unnecessary attention
Other alternatives to growing energy needs prove more plausible.
Student group focuses on animal rights
Compassion for All Animals, or CAA, works to raise awareness of the ...
People can make a difference in global ...
Global warming won't stop when carbon dioxide emissions are cut.
McConnell: Why the U.S. meat industry hasn’t ...
Oberthaler: How your rock collection could fix ...
Greening it
Your guide to greener living
KGS tests underground for CO2 storage
CO2 storage may be stored in an underground rock structure called the ...
Local Burger featured on Sundance
Doctors in the a new spin-off documentary called "Localize Me," will examine ...
Group tables against bill for new power ...
Gov. Sebelius is expected to make a final decision on two plants ...
Guide to grilling
Awaken your inner grillmaster.
Geologists awarded $11.5 million to test CO2 ...
The Kansas Geological Survey received funding for a large-scale experiment in storing ...
McConnell: How corn infiltrated the entire food ...
Durbin: Sebelius made right decision
Governor’s pulled support for coal plant will prevent pollution
Gentry: Vegetarians deserve people’s respect
Overall, Lawrence is friendly, but some could be more understanding
Food Revolution
From the farmers to the restaurant to the consumer, learn how local ...
Editor's note
Eating healthy. How much is too much?
Meat prices increase during grilling season
Just in time for grilling season, meats have reached their highest prices ...
Greening it
Your guide to greener living
Greening it
Your guide to greener living
From left: Kimberlee Hinkle, Libby Johnson and Hannah ...
1 comment
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
Comments
Keith: What happens when we cut the cheese
I have always wondered this and I know I am in an odd place to pose the question, but aren't cattle emissions more or less cyclical? That is, won't the carbon and hydrogens making up the methane that is expelled from a cow's anus eventually find its way back to another biological molecule within a cell?
This is the rationale used by biofuels experts who claim that though more carbon emissions occur as a result of burning biofuel than standard petroleum, the net gain of carbon in the atmosphere is zero.
Keith: What happens when we cut the cheese
Conner, As I'm sure you learned in chemistry, matter cannot be created or destroyed, so there is a finite amount of stuff (for lack of a better term) on this planet.
Atmospheric methane is interesting because it breaks down into carbon dioxide and water, two other greenhouse gases.
So although the methane may not be there in its methane form anymore, it breaks down into compounds that still accelerate climate change.
Thanks for commenting.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID