Global Warming, Blame it on Cows?
Each one of the cows in the world passes out about 100 to 200 liters of methane gas each day, more by belching (though the mouth) rather than through the other end. Multiply these figures by 1.3 billion or more, which is the estimated number of cattle populating the earth. Then imagine the huge amount of gas vented into the atmosphere from these animals. Methane is touted the most potent of the global-warming gases. It has 21 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide, the more abundant of these gases.
Other ruminants, both wild and domestic, do the same to contribute to the accumulated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. No less than-the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide; more than all the planes, trains, and automobiles on the planet!
It isn’t just the gas they pass that makes livestock troublesome. The FAO also identified livestock as one of the top contributors to the world’s most serious environmental problems including water pollution, overgrazing, and loss of other animal species. These problems have been addressed for many years by environmentalists, but it’s only recently that gases from belching cattle have been recognized as a “major” cause of greenhouse effect, and thus global warming.
