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Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

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Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#61

Post by jerrysievert »

tunesmith wrote: post #15

I saw some math once... not sure how correct it is, but it was something like given the co2-equivalent emissions of methane, even if all cows simply disappeared tomorrow, it would still only take care of about 5% of our global GHG emissions. So if that's true it wouldn't really be a gamechanger. Still worth doing though (the seaweed, not the mass slaughtering)! And if everyone plants 350 trees then maybe we'll get so…

> it would still only take care of about 5% of our global GHG emissions

have you never been "nickel and dimed"?

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#62

Post by mateodelnorte »

m0zg wrote: post #44
goodalgae wrote: post #26

My company is currently working to grow Asparagopsis Taxiformis, here in the US, for this purpose. I agree with comments that we have big issues to tackle in regards to methane sinks failing, such as permafrost, and there are things to be said about people moving en masse to plant based diets – but, the future will always be a mix of tomorrow and today. Many people will still eat beef, and we need to ensure we reduce…

Seems like just growing seaweed won't be enough though. You'd have to grow it _in close proximity to the cows_, otherwise there are other greenhouse gases that will be emitted before the cows can eat it. It's also unclear to me what this means in terms of water consumption, and therefore sustainability. I'd be curious to hear how (if at all) these issues could be addressed.

An additional thing to consider is that not all greenhouse gases are created equal. You can find any number of articles to cite as source that methane is 20 to 30 times worse for the atmosphere in causing warming than carbon dioxide.

https://blogs.princeton.edu/research/2014/03/26/a-more-poten...

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#63

Post by bacon_waffle »

Spooky23 wrote: post #41
JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From an environmental perspective, it's easier to directly consume fruits, vegetables and nuts yourself, rather than have an animal do the same, then eat the animal. That doesn't address the human appetite for animal proteins, but there is beyond meat.

No, it’s not. Most of the places where nuts are grown in industrial scale are water challenged. Animal agriculture is unsustainable at the scale we operate in today in the United States. Meat doesn’t equal feedlot, and pastured ruminant agriculture helps sustain the land.

> pastured ruminant agriculture helps sustain the land.

That totally depends on which land we're talking about. In a lot of places, forest was cut down to create the pasture, and so grazing to "sustain the land" is perhaps misguided.

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#64

Post by hombre_fatal »

kibibu wrote: post #36
JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From an environmental perspective, it's easier to directly consume fruits, vegetables and nuts yourself, rather than have an animal do the same, then eat the animal. That doesn't address the human appetite for animal proteins, but there is beyond meat.

Cows are much better at extracting nutrients from, say, grass than humans are. In places where nuts, vegetables, fruits aren't available, meat may be a more environmentally friendly choice.

But almost nobody is eating pasture-raised meat, though the industrial meat complex loves that you think that or are pointing it out as if that's how beef is made.

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#66

Post by AtomicOrbital »

mateodelnorte wrote: post #62
m0zg wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like just growing seaweed won't be enough though. You'd have to grow it _in close proximity to the cows_, otherwise there are other greenhouse gases that will be emitted before the cows can eat it. It's also unclear to me what this means in terms of water consumption, and therefore sustainability. I'd be curious to hear how (if at all) these issues could be addressed.

An additional thing to consider is that not all greenhouse gases are created equal. You can find any number of articles to cite as source that methane is 20 to 30 times worse for the atmosphere in causing warming than carbon dioxide. https://blogs.princeton.edu/research/2014/03/26/a-more-poten...

Water vapor is by far the biggest green house gas

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#67

Post by bacon_waffle »

mateodelnorte wrote: post #58
bacon_waffle wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't this seaweed grow in the sea? As far as I understand, the main water concerns as relate to cows, are about freshwater for growing fodder.

This seaweed does grow in the sea, obviously, however there isn't nearly enough of it in the sea to provide for the US (or worldwide, for that matter) cattle market. Further, this particular seaweed is presently undomesticated – which means that of the various types of algal cultivation methods (rope culture, tumble culture, etc) no one has quite gotten down the best means of getting stable growth out of the strain.…

I meant that adding seaweed to a cow's diet seems unlikely to increase the demand on our limited fresh water supply. AFAIK, there's no risk in running out of seawater.

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#68

Post by stickfigure »

sp332 wrote: post #59
fooker wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can not grow enough fruits, vegetables and nuts to feed the human population without severe deforestation. Also, agriculture uses up pretty much most of the obtainable drinkable water.

A large fraction of "agriculture" goes to feeding livestock, inefficiently. Some land is used for animal feed that is not usable for crops people would eat, but the conversion ratio for a lot of it would be better if we grew food for ourselves directly.

Feed is an efficient way of transferring water from wet places to dry places.

Re: Tasty Seaweed Reduces Cows’ Methane Emissions by 99%

#70

Post by irjustin »

sak5sk wrote: post #30
irjustin wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? https://timeforchange.org/are-cows-cause-of-global-warming-m... It wasn't even that hard to find one article. It might not be perfect, but you can clearly keep going. And yes, it's one facet. We won't solve our problems just by fixing this, but your attitude definitely won't.

You just quoted an article with no credibility and zero comparison to natural methane emissions. Mind reading before plugging links? That was the first thing that came up for me in Google too, and the reason why I said what I did. Edit: just looked up EPA website and found this: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#m... - couple things to note: "50-65% of all methane emissions are caused by huma…

Agreed that link was not perfect hence the qualifying statement. You found great links/data that allow you to ask the question of cows vs human methane production. If you came across with that first, I think this would be different.

If my statement came across as dismissive of discussion, it was because I felt you were not willing to provide to the discussion. Your opening statement "Is this event relevant anymore?" is a dismissive one.

My "attitude" reply is a response to that dismissive opening statement. You may disagree with me on my interpretation, but I don't have enough karma to downvote.

I am much more willing to discuss that now. What is the amount of the other 45% is cow methane? Is it a non-trivial amount?

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