A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs.
Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.
So, is it to be an enormous scene from "Hud" where we shoot all the cows to save the planet? Well, break out the barbecue sauce, then. We'll have a heap o' ribs to polish off!
2 comments:
I was just reading somewhere that 80% of the methane is produced my termites!
Now someone please tell me how they do that?
The measuring I mean. I presume the little buggers fart a lot due to their high fibre diet. That makes sense to me. :-)
Rob,
I found a couple things in a quick search. The second citation claims that termites produce only 5% of the atmospheric methane:
http://www.ghgonline.org/methanetermite.htm
http://www.iitap.iastate.edu/gcp/studentpapers/1996/atmoschem/brockberg.html
The measuring is anybody's guess. I picture something like one of those whole-house tents they use to keep in pesticides when the pest control folks really go to town. A whole termite nest is enclosed and all the expelled gas is collected and anaylyzed, etc.
Or maybe they just put a few termites in a baggie with a few scraps of wood...
Steve Erbach
The Town Crank
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