Global warming could be solved by genetically engineering or breeding cows to fart less Bill ‘The Science Guy” Nye said in an interview Tuesday.
“Agriculture researchers are going to produce or breed farm animals that produce less methane by changing the bacteria that are in their stomachs,” Nye said on BigThink. “To get all the way down to a plant-based diet might be tricky for a lot of people. However, it seems like a good idea.”
Nye was responding to a question from a vegan on how eating meat could reduce the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, which scientists say contributes to global warming. Methane is about 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, but persists in the atmosphere for a shorter amount of time. Cattle emissions alone make up 20 percent of U.S. methane emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“The human population [is] getting so big that we are raising so many farm animals,” Nye said. “It’s very reasonable that we’re creating a tremendous amount of extra methane that wouldn’t otherwise be there in the atmosphere. And that is causing global warming and climate change to happen more rapidly than [it] would otherwise.”
Environmentalists are very interested in reducing methane from cow farts, with some groups like Friends of the Earth pressuring public schools to switch their lunch menus away from beef to reduce emissions.
The Obama administration released a methane plan in 2014 that called for reducing emissions from the dairy industry 25 percent. That meant finding ways to capture or reduce emissions from cow farts and burps. Republican lawmakers, however, were quick to criticize the White House’s proposal, arguing the government could end up taxing cow farts.
Nye was genetically modified in 1969; the ground breaking experiment was a failure producing only a hyper-irritating weasel.
“Methane is about 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide”. .
20 * 0 = 0.
Genetically engineered fart-free FrankenBeefalo. What wine goes with that?
The world is populated with enormous numbers of ruminant animals that produce a lot of methane, and always has been. It is highly unlikely that domestically bred ruminants make a significant difference as in many cases they occupy land that once swarmed with large herds of wild ruminants.
“Methane is about 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, but persists in the atmosphere for a shorter amount of time.”
Incorrect! Water Vapor is the most common “greenhouse gas”. And while methane might be more powerful than Co2, there is almost none in the atmosphere. It’s a non issue.
I think ol Bill Nye the UN-science guy has been inhaling too many of his own farts? Maybe he should stop misleading children with faked “experiments” and retire already.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/climate-fail-files/gore-and-bill-nye-fail-at-doing-a-simple-co2-experiment/
“Incorrect! Water Vapor is the most common ‚Äúgreenhouse gas‚Äù.” Incorrect: “greenhouse gases” are in fact Oxygen and Nitrogen – they do the “trapping” of heat, they make a real greenhouse warner. Water vapor, CO2, methane are in fact the ONLY means by which planet earth can COOL – get your head around that; read http://www.tech-know-group.com/essays/Climate_Science_Paradox.pdf and feel free to breathe and fart as much as you like, it will not cause any warming of the atmopshere.
U R Wrong:
Certain gases in the atmosphere have the property of absorbing infrared radiation. Oxygen and nitrogen the major gases in the atmosphere do not have this property. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Water vapor quantity dwarfs all other GH gases.
What’s next burrito stands ? Why do so many scary global warming promoters live
in drought stricken California ?
Pull a paper bag over your head, Bill. Or find better writers. “I fart in your general direction” .