Fart Like a Kangaroo (and Save the Climate, Too)
Never mind low-emissions vehicles and low-emissions power plants. Let's talk about low-emissions livestock. Scientists are working on a bizarre solution for an embarrassing environmental problem: farting cows and sheep that emit a stunning volume of greenhouse gases.
Bacteria that live in those animals' digestive tracts make methane, a potent greenhouse gas that's been linked to global warning. (The livestock sector accounts for 37 percent of human-related methane generation, according to the United Nations.) Kangaroos, however, have different gastrointestinal bacteria—and they don't make methane. So, those clever scientists have hit on the idea of transferring climate-friendly bugs from kangaroos into farm animals, which theoretically could put an end to the livestock emissions problem.
Now, I've heard some wacky things about the good that bacteria can do. I've even blogged about some of them. But this idea of using bacteria to manipulate cow farts opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. I've read that the flatulence of 1 in every 3 adults contains methane, and parents sometimes pass the trait to their children. Will families of methane-makers soon be encouraged to swallow little capsules of kangaroo microbes?
"Ta": (Thanks) to Inhabitat and my alert colleague Jim Bock for drawing my attention to an Australian news report on the subject.
Tags: global warming | greenhouse gases | bacteria
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Reader Comments
There's a simpler way to achieve pretty much the same goal. Cows and sheep that eat pasture land grasses, instead of concentrated cow chow, don't emit significantly more gasses than kangaroos do. It's what they were evolved/created to eat.
However, it would require that the cattle industry operate less like rural factories and more like, well, ranchers, so I don't expect to see a change any time soon.
Global warming by methane
Congratulations on your new blog, which I just learned about. I'm interested in climate change in general and methane in particular.The possibility that warming of the Arctic will release methane from under Siberian permafrost scares James Hansen (and me). I think it is very unlikely that we will ever stop global warming by reducing the rate at which we put greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We have to use geoengineering, such as putting sunlight-blocking materials in the stratosphere, as proposed by T.M.L.Wigley in Science 314, 452, 20 October 2006. A fleet of 100 modified Concorde airplanes could stop global warming for several decades for $10 billion per year. For details please see http://home.comcast.net/~RoyCWard/GlobalWarming.html.
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The dictionary is full of clear and appropriate words. Your headline was intended to be vulgar, and you achieved your purpose!! It is sad to be assulted by such language on my opening page. Your link will be removed.
Jan 05, 2008 15:16:12 PM [permalink] [report comment]