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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%

#291

Ok so strange question, does this have an effect on humans as well? Do regular sushi eaters fart less? (;

The seaweed is a specific kind of red seaweed that isn't used in sushi. The seaweed contains compounds which tamp down specific microbe levels. I doubt the exact same effect is occurring in sushi eaters, though a similar one hypothetically could be.

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

#292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excessively large effect sizes are a warning sign in and of themselves. A good article on this is here: [0] -- simply if the effect is too huge, it becomes incumbent on the researcher to explain why no-one has noticed this before. Methane is a gas with a distinct and noticeable smell. Seaweed is plentiful in many places cows are kept. If the effect was really as dramatic as claimed you'd expect that it'd be well know…

> Methane is a gas with a distinct and noticeable smell Methane is odorless https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane

Interesting, thank you! I was surprised by this, as it's the major component of natural gas (as used widely for cooking here), and this has a distinct smell. I went looking however, and discovered that's actually because Ethyl Mercaptan is added specifically to make it detectable by humans. I never realised this, and does indeed explain why it's plausible no-one would have noticed such a large effect.

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

#293
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.

Can you sustainably feed all of humanity by feeding cattle from all the world's grasses? I don't understand your position. What's the better alternative to a more plant-focused diet?

Why not rabbit? It's a much leaner meat, takes less space, and they breed much faster.

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

#295
post #172

Skeptical science remark: This whole "if cows eat seaweed that'll vastly reduce their carbon footprint" is based on a single study with 12 cows. If you take into consideration that especially small, never replicated studies often don't hold up to scrunity the next thing to do is not to ask how to produce the seaweed. The next reasonable step would be to try to replicate this study in a larger sample (and probably als…

Yup. There's plenty of boutique dairy farms within easy driving distance of rich colleges in the northeast (some of whom already have existing relationships with said colleges). I'm sure anyone who seriously wants to replicate the study would be able to find a farmer that will work with then to get an n value of a few hundred. It's not like you have to go somewhere remote to study cow farts.

Most agricultural colleges/universities have their own farms/herds as well.

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

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely you're not arguing that the amount of water on the planet has decreased? Or that global annual rainfall has reduced? EPA shows that annual precipitation has consistently increased over the past century, so the water scare is a bad play: https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indica...

> Surely you're not arguing that the amount of water on the planet has decreased? Or that global annual rainfall has reduced? No, I'm arguing that you are conflating precipitation with water accessibility.

Are you saying there's a different baseline metric we could be using? If we're going to be making climate-change related arguments about water, we need a climate-based metric to show that it's climate change causing water accessibility issues.

Without such a metric, then it's easier to show that local political issues are what's causing these issues.

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

#297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A burger doesn't have enough veg for a healthy diet, I'd be amazed if its better than the average western diet. I'm thinking a generic McDonalds burger here with a wilted piece of lettuce, a slice of tomato and some gherkins. You could probably construct a healthy veg burger, I have no idea where you'd buy one. Something like subway seems like a better bet.

I didn’t say it was better, I doubt it would be worse. You vastly overestimate how much variety, or vegetables, are necessary to maintain health. The following are nutritionally complete; if you eat them you will not get any deficiency diseases, potatoes and milk, rice and beans, peanut butter and bread. Note that they all include a source of carbs and protein, like burgers. Hell, as long as you eat fatty meat you ca…

The problem of a western diet isnt one of deficiencies though. No doubt if you have enough burgers you'd get enough nutrients but the amount of meat and carbs would be massive.

This [1] suggests vitamin C would be the big problem for a Big Mac (1% RDA) followed by vitamin A (4% RDA). 100 burgers a day sounds quite hard to stomach, so the question becomes how bad the western diet is.

[1] https://www.nutritionvalue.org/McDONALD%27S%2C_BIG_MAC_nutri...

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

#299

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…

What is the feasibility of this, deploying it on a large scale? I did some quick calculations on a napkin. Apparently there are between 1 billion and 1.5 billion cows [0][1]. Let’s just say 1.5 Billion. In New Zealand the beef (dry cow) vs dairy cow ratio is almost 1:1 [2], but I assume that countries like India have more dairy cows, so I just assumed that 60% percent of cows are dairy cows. Apparently dry cows consu…

The US produces 912,358 tonnes of corn per day (or 900 million kg). I suspect corn is much easier to grow than seaweed though. Just as a perspective.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_production_in_the_United_...

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

#300

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…

Microbes in the cows stomach develop resistance to the seaweed compounds rapidly.
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