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July 16, 2008
Bovine emissions 23 times more damaging than CO2
Danny Huddleston
It appears that our efforts to control C02 emissions may be misguided, as the real culprit in global warming could be cows. The UK's Daily mail has the story.
Argentine scientists are taking a novel approach to studying global warming - strapping plastic tanks to the backs of cows to collect their burps and farts.
Researchers say the slow digestive system of cows makes them a producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide in efforts to fight global warming.
[...]
Berra said the researchers 'never thought' a cow weighing 550 kg (1,210 lb) could produce 800 to 1,000 litres (28 to 35 cubic feet) of emissions each day.
At least 10 cows are being studied, Berra said, including some in a corral whose burps are collected in yellow balloons hanging from the roof.
Greenhouse gases are widely blamed for causing global warming. Methane, researchers say, is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere and can be found in animal waste, landfills, coal mines and leaking natural gas pipes.
Not to worry, the scientists are working on a new diet for the cows which should reduce emissions by 25%.
Be sure and check out the pictures in the article, the cows look very stylish with the big pink plastic tanks on their backs.
I would file this story the same place you filed the one where Sheryl Crow proposes that everyone use only one square of tissue in the bathroom.
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