Perspective Shift: Do Cows Pollute As Much As Cars?

Agriculture is responsible for an estimated 14 percent of the world's greenhouse gases. A significant portion of these emissions come from methane, which, in terms of its contribution to global warming, is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. The U.S. Food and Agriculture Organization says that agricultural methane output could increase by 60 percent by 2030 [Source: Times Online]. The world's 1.5 billion cows and billions of other grazing animals emit dozens of polluting gases, including lots of methane. Two-thirds of all ammonia comes from cows.

Cows emit a massive amount of methane through belching, with a lesser amount through flatulence. Statistics vary regarding how much methane the average dairy cow expels. Some experts say 100 liters to 200 liters a day (or about 26 gallons to about 53 gallons), while others say it's up to 500 liters (about 132 gallons) a day. In any case, that's a lot of methane, an amount comparable to the pollution produced by a car in a day.

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M35MT - 7/17/2007 2:19:43 PM

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mmm...yes they do...what kind of emissions does my grill release when I cook beef?

1.5 billion cows - is that more than cars on earth? That would mean they DO polute more.

You see? It's the vegetarian "green" people that are perpetuating global warming - they dont eat any beef!

Audi4Life - 7/17/2007 4:24:50 PM

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emm the pollution that the car produces doesnt directly affect you but the cows waste especially if u step in it is just...speechless. however cows are eco-friendly, cars need 2 work on emissions inorder to compare them 2 cows

M35MT - 7/18/2007 7:50:15 AM

+2 Boost

Kobe beef costs so much because they actually massage the cows muscles to make the meat more tender.

Yum

EnnNorak - 7/18/2007 11:48:54 AM

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By the way M35MT, I was treated to real Kobe beef in Japan and it's absolutely great. The science involved here is that cows fart methane just like humans. methane is a very potent greenhouse gas. It is several dozen times more potent than CO2 although CO2 contributes more to global warming because there is more of it.

What people are generally not aware of is that water vapor in the Atmosphere is responsible for much more global warming than CO2 but politicians find it eay to attack the auto industry and blame it rather han other producers of CO2. Eventually, plug-in hybrids will simply shift the automotive CO2 poblem to electricity producers and the politician will claim that they did something about auto pollution.

Another thing people don't generally undestand is the way greenhose gases work. The Sun is much hotter than the Earth and therefore radiates heat at shorter wavelengths. The Earth radiates its heat back into space at longer wavelengths. Greenhouse gases absorb the longer-wave radiation better than the shorter-wave radiation and radiate some of the heat back toward the Earth thereby partially defating the Earth's attempt to radiate excess heat back into space.

Excess green house gases in the atmosphere act the same way as a one-way
mirror would act always reflecting a large fraction of back toward Earth that would otherwise escape into space.