Easter — Earth Day Weekend

Earth Day has been observed on April 22nd since 1970.

Easter, the most important feast of the Christian liturgical calendar, occurs on the first Sunday after the Pascal Full Moon and the Vernal Equinox. The Western Church uses the Gregorian Calendar to calculate the date of the Equinox and the holiday; many branches of the Eastern Church use the Julian Calendar, and general observe the Easter holiday a few weeks later. We observe sunshine in Washington today, and plan to spend the afternoon enjoying it. Hope you can, too.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Earth Day Echoes

April 22nd  has been celebrated as Earth Day since 1970. A holiday that raises humankind’s awareness of our responsibility for the natural health of our planet. Sounds good, right?

Not in some ways:

“The 15 Corniest Pro-Environmental Songs,” Stacey Anderson, Rolling Stone

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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Earth Day Update: Meat, Methane, Laughing Gas

 

A 2006 UN study claimed meat production is responsible for creating more greenhouse gas emissions than the exhaust of all cars, SUVs, buses, planes and trucks combined. Methane and other greenhouse gases are produced by cow flatulence and burping.  

If you need to discuss it in polite company, the process that makes cows gassy is called “enteric fermentation.”  Cow burps are “ruminant eructation.” 

A 2009 study estimated that half of all greenhouse gases are generated by livestock.  Investigators have been collecting cow gas emissions (methane and nitrous oxide) in huge plastic containers for analysis. People concerned about Global Warming have urged a reduction in meat eating  in order to reduce the size of gassy cattle herds. 

Earth Day 2009

Today is Earth Day 2009. On this 39th annual commemoration of ecological concern, we may be about to reduce one major source of air pollution and global warming: cow flatulence.

Factory breeding of beef cattle and vast dairy herds produce tons of atmospheric methane or CH₄ (not Carbon Dioxide or CO₂, as claimed by master chemist and House Minority Leader John Boehner). Methane is a major “greenhouse gas” that contributes to global warming.

Funny? Yes. A joke? No.