How Seaweed Is Helping Ireland Reduce Methane Emissions

BULL-ieve it or not, cow burps are causing big problems for global warming — so scientists are turning to seaweed for a solution to reduce methane from cattle farming.

Scientists in Ireland are scrubbing the country’s coastline for seaweed to feed ruminant livestock such as cattle and sheep. Research out of University of California, Davis, found that adding a type of seaweed called asparagopsis taxiformis to cattle feed reduced the amount of methane released by the cows by an astonishing 82%. Methane, while shorter-lived than other greenhouse gases, warms the planet 30x more efficiently than CO2. In the U.S. approx 10% of methane emissions come from agriculture, a good portion of which is methane from cattle belches and flatulence. Researchers in Ireland are doubtful they can see an 80%+ reduction, but they still believe they could make a significant dent. Meanwhile, Ireland’s cattle numbers have reportedly grown by more than 10% over the last 10 years and the country is one of the largest beef and dairy exporters in Europe, Ireland’s per capita methane output is reportedly the highest in the European Union.

#Cows #ClimateChange #Oceans #Seaweed #Methane #Earth #Environment #Science #NowThis

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[YassmineWantsPeace]

WTF let's just ditch dairy and eat seaweed ourselfs!

[taylorrestall]

How about just stop eating ruminants and eat plants instead? If you truly care about the environment, eat plant based

[YamiHoOu]

They are doing something like this in New Zealand as well.

[neliborba]

When they finish with the seaweed, how are they going to replace it? The habit of using one thing to repair man made mistakes is costly to all.

[ginac]

The number of farmed animals need to be drastically reduced. The deforestation for animal agriculture as well as soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and water wasted and contaminated on animal agriculture and water contaminated from animal ag contribute enormously to climate change. We need to switch to a predominately plant-based diet and stop artificially producing the 70 billion farm animals each year for our consumption.

[GutsToCuts]

It’s crazy to me the lengths we go to in order to keep eating animals. Not eating cows (and therefore not breeding them) is far better than any other method. Cows do not want to be killed for your gluttonous taste pleasure and the environment will also thank you.

[brentfellers]

@ we are I live in northern bc we are getting the rain as snow. Over 40c this summer and we are on the Alaska highway. Not sure why you would wish extreme weather events on anyone. People have lost their lives or homes, jobs, communities.
Canadians as a whole want to address the issue, a few nut bars and or politicians don't reflect the majority of our citizenry. 🇨🇦

[cheezarose]

But then aren't we just heading into an over production or depletion of seaweed in our oceans both having dire consequences on the ecosystem.

[matthewsaunders]

Seaweed farming doesn't require much landuse either, so we could even save the rainforest from being burned down for soybean production which is used as cattle feed

[rosshoyt]

We need an all-of-the-above climate strategy, so this could be useful. But not all thats needed

[NicholasAEvans]

This is pretty good news. But....

As I understand it, the biggest issue with cows isn't ruminant methane but land use policy: e.g destroying carbon sinks (eg forests) in order to grow feed crops. This seaweed feed hits both points at once: use less land to feed the same cattle *and* reduced methane.

I get annoyed at how ruminant methane is covered by many journalists, because IMO, it really warps the common public understanding of the scale of the issues. Yes, methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and far worse than CO2 per ton. But any understanding of environmental processes *must* discuss the difference between "stocks" and "flows". And the differences between "gross" and "net" flows. If you're not talking about the carbon *cycle*, you're not properly educating nor giving the correct perspective.

Carbon from cows comes from carbon in their food (grass, corn, seaweed, whatever), which usually comes from the atmosphere and usually during the same year. It's analogous to the carbon cycle of deciduous trees: growing leaves & cattle food pulls carbon out, and shedding leaves and ruminant belches releases carbon back. Putting aside the distinction between CO2 and CH4, the carbon cycle for grass-fed cattle is mostly measurable in *days*. Converting atmospheric CO2 into atmospheric methane isn't great, but even there we're talking about a half-life measured in decades. Amortized over that time period, the net flow per cow will balance out to neutral.

Or.. it *would*... But of course it isn't: because an ever increasing percentage of land use is devoted to cattle, and we're literally burning down some of the planets most important carbon sinks just so we can grow more cattle. And we're using petrochemical-based fertilizers to grow their food. Let alone the other (non-carbon) turns of environmental pollution that come from CAFOs.

Destroying our carbon sinks may or may not add any *new* carbon to the atmosphere (obviously burning forests does) but it *dramatically* increases our yearly net carbon flow. And every single fossil fuel or petro-fertilizer represents carbon that was sequestered from our atmosphere for millennia—carbon which we're now releasing.

So, again I'm really grateful for this research. But to put it in perspective, the net flow of carbon from bovine belches is *miniscule* compared to destruction of wetlands and rain forests, or CH4 released by fracking leaks, or any fossil fuel usage. It even pales in comparison to conventional concrete curing processes. I want to see fifty stories about new advancements in concrete production, or land usage policies, or energy production and storage technologies for every one that mentions cow burps (without mentioned land use policy). This story itself would be much stronger, IMO, if it simply remarked on the relevant land usage issues.

(Caveat: I'm an internet blowhard, not an ecologist.)

[weareparamore]

Canada getting their 1 month rain in just 2 days.. Glad they experience this too so they understand why frontline countries need that urgency

[catcatraz]

Yes let's further deplete the ocean and promote one of the worst environmental practices. What a joke.

[oldeagle]

This whole thing could be solved by using state of the art dairy cattle methane filters in the form of methane filtering face masks and methane filtering butt plugs for cattle!

[victorocallaghan]

I am a cattle farmer in Ireland. It is very easy to comment on something even though you may not know the entire story. Ireland never went to drastic ends to destroy land in order make way for cattle. For example in the Burren region in County Clare cattle go up to the hills in the winter to live off of Heather and other natural fauna. There has been farming here with 5000 years. Of course there has been intensification of big farms which has gone to more of an industrial scale as opposed to more of a way of life as it used to be before

[bs-]

So obviously how about no packaging like thick impermeable plastic on everything you buy...that is. A Much bigger problem than cow gas

[thetruthisoutthere]

Gosh, are those vampire fangs 🧛 😱 he may just be a poor soul who's had a really hard life, but those eyes sure are eerie 🙏🏻

[willm]

The solution to this problem is making dairy via fermentation - it will; be much healthier to consume, reduce ALL emissions by 90% reduce prices by 50% and reduce animal cruelty by 100%

[isaacmays-smith]

mate just stop selling cows as food. why mitigate a problem you can choose to stop causing?

[extraincomesuz]

But sea turtles' favorite food is red seaweed. People should become vegans and forget raising cattle for food.