Argentine scientists are strapping plastic tanks to the backs of cows
Scientists are examining cow farts and burps in a novel bid to combat global warming.
By Rupert Neate
Experts said the slow digestive system of cows makes them a key producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide.
In a bid to understand the impact of the wind produced by cows on global warming, scientists collected gas from their stomachs in plastic tanks attached to their backs.
The Argentine researchers discovered methane from cows accounts for more than 30 per cent of the country’s total greenhouse emissions.
As one of the world’s biggest beef producers, Argentina has more than 55 million cows grazing in its famed Pampas grasslands.
Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology, said every cow produces between 8000 to 1,000 litres of emissions every day.
Methane, which is also released from landfills, coal mines and leaking gas pipes, is 23 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Scientists are now carrying out trials of new diets designed to improve cows’s digestion and hopefully reduce global warming. Silvia Valtorta, of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigations, said that by feeding cows clover and alfalfa instead of grain “you can reduce methane emissions by 25 percent”.
8 responses so far ↓
wil // July 16, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Beeno?
What if the cow dumps instead of farts? How the hell they hook up the tube to the cow?
pjwalker911 // July 16, 2008 at 6:57 pm
And what are they going to do when all those cows go floating off into the sky?
pjwalker911 // July 16, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Just watch. The next step is to bag human farts.
wil // July 16, 2008 at 11:16 pm
The cow rings of earth–the newest space wonder!
So–should open flames be kept away from the cow receptacles?
Christina // July 28, 2008 at 8:51 am
Excuse me Is this all for real????
I’ve never laughed so much in my whole life!
What a waste of time & imagination!!!!
pjwalker911 // July 28, 2008 at 6:22 pm
It’s only funny until you realize that the elites of the Club of Rome have perpetrated this massive global warming hoax/religion to engineer humanity into a stupid slave-like bunch of drones who just follow along, believe and do what they are told regardless of how ridiculous it might be. If you think the monitoring of human farts is beyond them, think again. In future, they want to monitor all your vital functions in real time by satellite. They will monitor your waste byproducts as well. They want to control every minute detail of your existence right down to that level. And today, they are saying we shouldn’t eat so much food because it is causing global warming, and that our farts might be adding to greenhouse gases. They say we should stop having children because it causes global warming. They say we should move into the cities and abandon the countryside because it causes global warming. All this while the other planets are heating up and ice is melting on the moons of Jupiter.
wil // July 29, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Every planet in the solar system has had warming effects observed. Venus, Mars, Neptune, Pluto, etc.
wil // July 29, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Must be overpopulation and heavy industry.