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Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

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Re: Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

#81

Post by justinclift »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #73
erichocean wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP, but the typical conclusion would be "effective altruism indicates I should stay in tech and give money to helping fisherman transition to seaweed farming." It's very hard to pass this analysis, since "high tech" is almost universally more valuable to humanity, per unit, that something low tech like farming. If you're already in tech and you want to "help the world", giving money is almost always the best…

OP here. Your assuming I'd stay in tech to arbitrage the wage gap to give altruistically. You discount that maybe working in tech isn't what makes me happy (disclaimer: I like my current gig because of the people I get to work with, but nothing is forever), farming seaweed from my 41 foot catamaran (now depreciable as a business expense if commercially farming seaweed) might make me happier after working in tech for…

Very well put. :)

Re: Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

#82

Post by kctess5 »

amelius wrote: post #79
TulliusCicero wrote: post #7

There probably isn't an incentive to reduce methane emissions for farmers right now though, right? We'd have to pass regulations mandating a reduction, or an emissions tax or something.

> There probably isn't an incentive to reduce methane emissions for farmers right now though I think we will be able to detect methane emissions on a large scale from space sometime soon, e.g. [1]. At that point, farmers can't escape the law in any way, and they will have an incentive to reduce emissions. [1] http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0615/NASA-detects-meth...

Assuming there is a law. I think we can already detect methane well enough to know that cows make a lot of it.

You don't want to make the law something they must "escape" from, but rather something they can profit from by not polluting. Like tax credits.

Re: Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

#83

Post by ChuckMcM »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #7

There probably isn't an incentive to reduce methane emissions for farmers right now though, right? We'd have to pass regulations mandating a reduction, or an emissions tax or something.

Well if it is 20% of the total green house gas effect then we should be willing to sell them carbon tax credits. Looking at how creatively Tesla used them I'm guessing you could entirely offset the cost of feeding the cattle with credits.

Re: Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

#85

Post by toomuchtodo »

justinclift wrote: post #81
toomuchtodo wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here. Your assuming I'd stay in tech to arbitrage the wage gap to give altruistically. You discount that maybe working in tech isn't what makes me happy (disclaimer: I like my current gig because of the people I get to work with, but nothing is forever), farming seaweed from my 41 foot catamaran (now depreciable as a business expense if commercially farming seaweed) might make me happier after working in tech for…

Very well put. :)

Appreciate it. I comment only to bring perspective.

Re: Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

#86

Post by belorn »

ElKoji wrote: post #39
jdavis703 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you. I'd rather see faster, broader action. But it's not happening soon. But instead of waiting around ask your butcher if they can purchase a "zero carbon" cow (or better yet go vegan/vegetarian :)), don't buy mass market stuff with huge carbon footprints (this Christmas I'm mostly giving food or other things). I used to think the "your wallet can change corporate behavior" line of reasoning at the end…

Asking your butcher for "zero carbon" cow is pointless, I agree, it is also the equivalent of attempting to avoid buying things with "huge" carbon footprints (like everything that has plastic on it which is pretty much everything useful), much like buying in artisanal shops, or asking for "grass fed beef" or "free range eggs", it is all highly inefficient which is a problem with our growing population. They are all l…

If we stopped all fishing, you would end up with quite a lot of decreased biodiversity in lakes from eutrophication, cause by those farms that supply that vegan diet. I know, because I know fishermen who got paid by the Swedish state to do just that.

We could demand that farms had zero carbon footprint, zero water usage/drainage, a new tree for every cut one, and no pesticides. It is expensive, and food labeled under a mission which try to cover some of those aspects do demand a much higher price. At best it can be said is that its has a lower environmental impact that cows, even through my government (Sweden) explicitly says that if we don't get more farmers, most of the open field and bio diversity that comes from open fields will be lost.

Personally, I would go with a omnivore diet that pay a little extra (ie about double vs the cheapest) for products under environmental focused labels, and then just eat less of it. Even better, skip that car and you will end up having a much lower carbon footprint than any car owner has, regardless of diet.

Re: Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

#87

Post by froh »

lucio wrote: post #11

How relevant are cow farts in global warming? is there a percent figure? as in cows contribute x% of gas emissions

The really relevant thing is not the farts but 1. the CO_2 emissions for feedstuff production and transport, plus 2. the deforestation for said feedstuff production, plus 3. the insane ratio of agricultural surface requirements of plants-needed-to-feed-humans vs plants-needed-to-feed-cattle-to-feed-humans (which is approx. 1:10)

For these very reasons organic meat is much better for CO_2 reduction. It doesn't use fossil fuels just to feed cattle, it limits the area foodprint of cattle production and by making meat scarcer, it last not least shifts meat based nutrition towards five-a-day nutrition.

Re: Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

#88

Post by 31reasons »

viridian wrote: post #12
lucio wrote: post #11

How relevant are cow farts in global warming? is there a percent figure? as in cows contribute x% of gas emissions

16.5% of methane emissions, give or take. If you could further apply this to all livestock, it's around 30%.

Combining this with electric cars, we are looking at 50% reduction I think.

Re: Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

#89

Post by jdavis703 »

kristopolous wrote: post #29
chillydawg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest producers are and will always be the mass market stuff, though. Who cares if 1% of beef is produced carbon neutral? It's nice, but it makes no tangible difference. Sadly this method of encouraging better behaviour won't work unless a costco or a mcdonalds, for some insane reason, wants to cut their profit margin and buy more expensive beef.

The worst move the environmental movement did is let the environmentally sensitive product be associated with consumption by a rich liberal urban elite. Until someone can fix this and disassociate ecological efficiency from the limousine liberal, these programs are unfortunately going to only be marginal. Minimizing environmental externalities can't be seen as optional. Lots of reasonable things increase cost - such…

Those are the kind of "up market" consumers you want to target new expensive products to. Eventually they'll trickle down to other people when they realize it'll save them money (after economies of scale have been reached, R&D expenses paid off, etc). For example fake meat products right now is being targeted to "elite" coastal types. But once this stuff is really good, and really cheap it might disrupt traditional meat products.

Re: Scientist discovers particular seaweed nearly eliminates cow methane emissions

#90

Post by sc4th1s »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #73
erichocean wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP, but the typical conclusion would be "effective altruism indicates I should stay in tech and give money to helping fisherman transition to seaweed farming." It's very hard to pass this analysis, since "high tech" is almost universally more valuable to humanity, per unit, that something low tech like farming. If you're already in tech and you want to "help the world", giving money is almost always the best…

OP here. Your assuming I'd stay in tech to arbitrage the wage gap to give altruistically. You discount that maybe working in tech isn't what makes me happy (disclaimer: I like my current gig because of the people I get to work with, but nothing is forever), farming seaweed from my 41 foot catamaran (now depreciable as a business expense if commercially farming seaweed) might make me happier after working in tech for…

could you tell me more about using a boat for seaweed farming?
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