Don’t Choose Extinction

Have you heard this one? A dinosaur walks into the UN General Assembly and says “Don’t Choose Extinction.” Just in time for the 2021 United Nations climate change conference (COP 26). And Halloween.

A message from the UNDP, which opposes the world’s $423 billion annual government fossil fuel subsidies. Read about it here.

More:

“Frankie the Dinosaur tells world not to ‘choose extinction’ in U.N. video urging climate action,” Amy Cheng, Washington Post

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Less-Gassy Grass Cuts Cow Burps, Eases Global Warming

Scientists at Denmark’s Aarhus University and the DLF seed corporation are using DNA technology to develop a type of grass that is easier for cows to digest, meaning less gas builds up in bossy’s belly. Bovine burps are a major source of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that promotes climate change.

The project, funded by Denmark’s Ministry of Environment and Food, uses genomic selection to determine promising grass strains for breeding. The project is expected to take about 5 or 6 years, so you’ll have to excuse bovine belching until then. Environmentally-anxious cowboys and cowgirls can follow the project here.

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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-oDf

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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Breeding Burpless Bovines

Methane and other greenhouse gasses are heating up the world’s atmosphere, fueling global warming. 18% of those gases come from the burps and farts of the billions of cows in the vast herds feeding the world’s growing appetite for meat. Face it, Earth’s human population isn’t going to go Vegan, and cow-mounted catalytic converters just don’t cut it. What’s to be done?

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.