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Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

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Re: Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

#101

Post by fit2rule »

cesnja wrote: post #19
scns wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without excrement from animals you need synthetic fertilizer, whose production causes massive production causes massive environmental damage eg emissions and algae bloom.

There's also the "classic" option, discovered some 200 years before synthetic fertilizers - crop rotation that includes some form of legumes. IMO with the current state of agriculture and food production we went into a local maximum that is very unsustainable and bad for the environment.

Absolutely true. We can definitely be treating the land better.

The only reason we need industrial fertilisers, is because its packaged so well and easy to distribute. But if we weren't raping the soil in the first place, we wouldn't have this problem.

Industrialized farming needs to be revolutionised by the same technique that computing went through: a DIY revolution.

If you don't have a garden, now is the time to start. Everyone should have a garden.

Re: Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

#102

Post by [deleted] »

Neil44 wrote: post #100
dkrudy wrote: post #94

Hold up its the disgusting things we're feeding cattle that's contributing to their immense environmental impact? HUH. Maybe someday we'll realize that raising them in feedlots on 100% processed packaged food made from things like how they forage in nature is most of the problem as well, and if you raise them in distributed networks so they interact with their ecosystem instead of trampling it, and then not have to s…

I understand that what the cows eat has a large effect on the taste of the milk, so if the cows are milkers that’s an issue to be overcome.

[deleted]

Re: Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

#103

Post by pvaldes »

twic wrote: post #81
pvaldes wrote: post #44

I still think that there is a simple explanation for the 'reduction in methane' effect, and that the plan has some severe loopholes Raising cattle in a regular diet of seaweed for its entire life and expecting it to grow correctly is still uncharted territory. Are we pushing cow metabolism to the brink of famine? Wild seaweeds are harvested and sold for several purposes: 1) To make agar-agar. A substance that is used…

> I still think that there is a simple explanation for the 'reduction in methane' effect Yes - your "still" suggests to me you think that it is a mystery (apologies if i misunderstand), whereas i believe it is reasonably well understood - it's bromoform, aka tribromomethane, which inhibits methanogenesis in bacteria [0]. So it is indeed a chemical weapon. > Raising cattle in a regular diet of seaweed for its entire l…

Thanks for the info. It seems that tribromomethane is classified as a persistent carcinogenic, toxic by contact and also water soluble. Not good. That moves the discussion further, to a totally different, much darker, scenery: "Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that will cause canker if eaten".

I wonder what government agency would approve a known carcinogenic as okay to be used in meat production and how they will avoid to be sued immediately by the consumer associations.

> Well, we'll find out!

Find what?, how to be able to increase canker risk to meat eaters? I have the feeling that this is not a wise idea. Not even if the cattle would grow much faster.

Re: Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

#104

Post by Spacemolte »

kolinko wrote: post #65
prox wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can perfectly live on eating meat once or twice a week. Especially if your job isn’t that physically demanding. You reduce meat consumption to 1/7 if you do so. If most of us did that a lot of problems would be moot.

You assume that the only reason people eat meat is either sociological or physical workout. You have multiple subsets of population that may find it more difficult to quit meat than the others. For women (especially pregnant), meat is a source of Iron. For people with adhd, there is a correlation with meat eating (and we can assume causation as well, since adhd is genetic). Meat is a source of vitamins that have been…

Eating less != quitting

Re: Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

#106

Post by callmemclovin »

kolinko wrote: post #65
prox wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can perfectly live on eating meat once or twice a week. Especially if your job isn’t that physically demanding. You reduce meat consumption to 1/7 if you do so. If most of us did that a lot of problems would be moot.

You assume that the only reason people eat meat is either sociological or physical workout. You have multiple subsets of population that may find it more difficult to quit meat than the others. For women (especially pregnant), meat is a source of Iron. For people with adhd, there is a correlation with meat eating (and we can assume causation as well, since adhd is genetic). Meat is a source of vitamins that have been…

> just because you and some other people have it easy to quit meat doesn’t mean that it’s easy for all the rest.

Yeah but... so what? What's the point in only pursuing easy goals? Do you think we should have cancelled the Apollo program just because it wasn't easy? Abandoning meat will be another milestone for mankind - even if it's just for our own long-term survival on this planet.

Re: Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

#107

Post by ryndbfsrw »

seanwilson wrote: post #11

How much could this reduce the total environmental food print of cattle? I.e. including all the energy used to grow the crops they eat, the deforestation to make room for the crops + cattle, the waste the cows produce. Animal farming creates vast damage because of how inefficient it is and seaweed won't address how much feed cows need or that the world is eating more and more meat as countries get richer: > The energ…

> All improvements are good, but I'd like to know if this is more than a distraction to make people feel better about continuing to demand products they know are damaging the environment (e.g. Amazon deforestation).

I think you're on the money. This is the equivalent of us wanting to keep driving around in 2.5ton SUVs by justifying to ourselves that it’s a hybrid

Re: Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

#108

Post by rimliu »

cik wrote: post #28
seanwilson wrote: post #11

How much could this reduce the total environmental food print of cattle? I.e. including all the energy used to grow the crops they eat, the deforestation to make room for the crops + cattle, the waste the cows produce. Animal farming creates vast damage because of how inefficient it is and seaweed won't address how much feed cows need or that the world is eating more and more meat as countries get richer: > The energ…

At the end of the day this is signalling. We all know that the best thing we can do is eat a local, veg-friendly (vegetarian/vegan) diet. That also doesn't mean that people are going to do it, or can. But at least it's one form of a step in the right direction. War doesn't have to be waged and won in a single battle. Every little step helps if it truly reduces emissions.

  > We all know that the best thing we can do is eat a
  > local, veg-friendly (vegetarian/vegan) diet.
I do not know that. First I am not sure vegan diet is better than balanced diet. Second, I am not sure "local" is always better. Keep in mind that "local" is all over the globe, and some places may be a gardener's paradise, in others you will struggle to grow anything.

Re: Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

#109

Post by im3w1l »

dkrudy wrote: post #94

Hold up its the disgusting things we're feeding cattle that's contributing to their immense environmental impact? HUH. Maybe someday we'll realize that raising them in feedlots on 100% processed packaged food made from things like how they forage in nature is most of the problem as well, and if you raise them in distributed networks so they interact with their ecosystem instead of trampling it, and then not have to s…

You are mixing up all sorts of issues in some sort of black-and-white thinking where good things are good in all respects and bad things are bad in all respects.

Cows eating 100% natural gmo free locally grown grass produce methane.

Re: Australia to produce seaweed cattle feed that reduces methane emissions by 80%

#110

Post by crispyporkbites »

giantg2 wrote: post #73
czottmann wrote: post #48

That's great and all, but it's fighting symptoms , not the underlying problem. The underlying problem isn't cows emitting methane, the problem is too many people indoctrinated with the idea of eating all the animals, all the time. The amount of land, energy and ressources in general spent on producing way too many animals for eating is unreasonable.

"... the problem is too many people indoctrinated with the idea of eating all the animals, all the time." The problem is there are too many people. Even if a person isn't eating meat, they still use a vast amount of other resources, especially if they adhere to a modern lifestyle.

Nope, that's not a problem. And in 100 years the global population will be shrinking anyway, but resource consumption will still be going up.
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