The next time you want to take a stand against global warming, don't always look for the perpetual scapegoats in cars, factories and oil companies. You should also blame livestock such as cows.
Yes, seriously.
In 2006, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that the livestock sector emerged as "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."
So how does the cow come into the picture? Answer: by the methane they give off when they chew their cud and belch, and nitrous oxide and ammonia when they leave manure all over the barnyard. What stinks on a farm obviously smells bad for the global environment too.
The FAO report said that methane, while less prevalent in the air than carbon dioxide, is 23 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas, and livestock is responsible for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas problem.
It added that farm waste is not very biodegradable and is a major source of water pollution when washed away by rain. The methane and ammonia in cow dung rise into the air with evaporating water and fall back as ingredients of acid rain.
How best to tackle this issue? Thus far, suggestions range from changing the cattle's feed to even genetically engineering the cattle. There is even noise to impose a methane tax on cattle farmers but it has been laughed off. Until a viable solution can be found, most people will think that this furore is mostly hot air or ... bullshit.
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