Cow Burps, Really?

Now that we’re concerned about global warming and greenhouse gases, we’re trying to find different ways to reduce emissions. Although this mission is for a good cause, some fingers may be pointing at the wrong things. Recent studies have found that methane emissions from cow flatulence from a herd of two hundred cows is “… roughly equivalent to driving a family car more than 100,000 miles (180,000km) on more than four gallons (21,400 liters) of petrol” (Telegraph.co.uk). Yes, cows are emitting a good amount of methane gas but is it really something that can be fixed? Scientists predict that this amount will increase even more in the future. While methane is responsible for a fifth of global warming, it is not the only gas that contributes to our growing problem. Although these studies are important, more time should be spent finding solutions rather than pointing out more problems.

I think it’s ridiculous to say that cows and other livestock are causing global warming. Yes, their methane emissions are rather high but the only reason why we have a large amount is because we keep trying to raise more and more livestock for our food supply. What are we supposed to do now, kill all the livestock? The only solution I can see is to stop raising excess amounts of cows for our own purposes. It’s not like we can control how often they burp. While eating less meat, like the article suggests, may decrease the amount of livestock, we will still need to do something more drastic to solve the problem.

While causes are important to study, right now we need to focus on how to limit these emissions. Some companies have started using emissions from their factories as new energy resources. Perhaps scientists can develop a way to take the methane that is produced from livestock and use it for the production of their feed. More products in grocery stores have little logos saying that they were made with the environment in mind. Creating more products that are “green” and creating cars that are more fuel efficient can help change the world that we live in now.