2009.06.05
A gentle prod toward a more eco-friendly cow
Washington is getting serious about trying to reduce greenhouse gases with tough vehicle emission standards and a serious push to implement a cap-and-trade system on carbon dioxide emissions by American manufacturers. But who's going to get the cows to cooperate with efforts to reduce heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere that are contributing to global warming?
An average cow's burps and flatulence release 200 to 400 pounds of methane a year, research indicates, and methane has 20 times the heat-trapping ability of carbon dioxide. And bovine gas doesn't lend itself, really, to cap and trade.
Dairy industry researchers are on the problem. Yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, for example, initiated an experiment in January with 15 Vermont farms to see if a change of diet will reduce the methane eruptions of the dairy cows that supply it with organic milk. The New York Times reports, "As of the last reading in mid-May, the methane output of [Guy] Choiniere’s herd had dropped 18 percent. Meanwhile, milk production has held its own."
The farmers are using feed that includes more things like alfalfa and flaxseed, "substances that, unlike corn or soy, mimic the spring grasses that the animals evolved long ago to eat."
RSS feed 
Next on the Obama/Gore mission could be the poor areas of America. The areas that rely on a good inexpensive meal of beans. Workers who rely on cans of bean and franks. No more pickled eggs on Easter. All dangerous gases that must be stopped?
Comment by TScottW — June 6, 2009 @ 5:38 am
I'd love to know how they measured the cows "methane output".
Comment by Kristen — June 6, 2009 @ 8:43 am
We also just have way too many cows to begin with. It's pretty obvious now lots of us could do better eating less dairy and especially less beef.
Comment by Devan Malore — June 6, 2009 @ 10:14 am
Maybe al gore stood behind the cows with a balloon and captured this earth killing essence, then on to his study room to plot more feqr mongering....it is clear to me now...
Comment by pammala — June 6, 2009 @ 10:17 am
I think we could reduce global warming by getting rid of the hot air in Washington.
Comment by Todd — June 6, 2009 @ 10:31 am
Hmm whats nest? Controlling fish waste?
Comment by Steve — June 6, 2009 @ 11:09 am
Kristen..thanks for asking..cow methane output is measured in DSMUs...you'll see the device employed where a farmer's average cattlehead- so designated by size and age- spends 3 hours in a tinted, sealed plexiglass box 6'Hx 9'Lx 6'W with only the cow's head extending from the box. Methane levels are taken at the beginning AND end of the 3 hour period and expressed in DSMUs.
20 years ago the standard DSMU was established when methane levels were measured at the beginning and end of the day in senate chambers when the full senate was in session and in deliberation making speeches. The increase in methane detected over a 12 hour period is considered one DSMU--Daily Senate Methane Unit.
Comment by BUD — June 6, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
Ask John Boehner, As usual he has all the answers, the wrong ones, but answers none the less: Yeah that CO2 is a killer from the cows...
"Boehner replied: "The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical. Every time we exhale, we exhale carbon dioxide. Every cow in the world, you know when they do what they do you've got more carbon dioxide."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/19/boehner-calls-global-warm_n_188688.html
"Carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted in a number of ways. It is emitted naturally through the carbon cycle and through human activities like the burning of fossil fuels.
Natural sources of CO2 occur within the carbon cycle where billions of tons of atmospheric CO2 are removed from the atmosphere by oceans and growing plants, also known as ‘sinks,’ and are emitted back into the atmosphere annually through natural processes also known as ‘sources.’ When in balance, the total carbon dioxide emissions and removals from the entire carbon cycle are roughly equal.
Since the Industrial Revolution in the 1700’s, human activities, such as the burning of oil, coal and gas, and deforestation, have increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. In 2005, global atmospheric concentrations of CO2 were 35% higher than they were before the Industrial Revolution.
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2.html
"Methane is about 22 times more potent than carbon dioxide at capturing atmospheric heat. Cows produce astonishing quantities of methane gas as the bacteria in their stomachs breaks down plant fibres. Their near-constant cud-chewing allows a small quantity of the gas to escape with nearly every breath each animal takes"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3254326.ece
Comment by Sandi Saunders — June 6, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
BUD, I had to read that twice before I could decide whether to believe it!
Comment by Ed H — June 6, 2009 @ 3:06 pm
Bubble cows?
Comment by Blue John — June 6, 2009 @ 3:44 pm
Cow gas....yet one more reason to live in the city.
Was Bud not serious? If not Bud, it was an excellent answer anyway and cleared that issue up nicely for me.
Comment by Kristen — June 6, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
Carbon dioxide -- like most chemicals -- is toxic in sufficiently high doses. That's one of the reasons WHY we exhale it form our lungs, just as we eliminate all our other wastes to keep from poisoning ourselves.
In some low-lying areas of the world (CO2 is heavier than air), so much CO2 gets dissolved in lakes that, when an abrupt temperature change releases it, humans and other animals living nearby are killed in huge numbers.
Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas, but thankfully, it's not stable. Chemical reactions eventually transform it into carbon dioxide and water vapor.
Comment by Ed H — June 6, 2009 @ 5:12 pm