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Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

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Re: Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

#11

Post by Eric_WVGG »

j-pb wrote: post #6

I guess everything helps, but we put so much effort into the problems with easy solutions, that could be invested into the difficult stuff. Livestock contributes to 15% of all greenhouse gasses. But the solution is easy, cheap, and only midly inconvenient. Going vegan. This has the added benefit of protecting threatened ecosystems in the rainforrest and seas. We could then spend that energy on the difficult stuff. Fa…

The solution is easy, cheap, and only mildly inconvenient. Feed cattle some seaweed.

Re: Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

#12

Post by frankbreetz »

"Transportation of the processed or unprocessed seaweed should be kept to a minimum, so cultivation in the region of use is recommended specially to avoid long-haul shipping."

"Asparagopsis taxiformis, (red sea plume or limu kohu) formerly A. sanfordiana, is a species of red algae, with cosmopolitan distribution in tropical to warm temperate waters."[0]

This seems to be a pretty big hurdle to overcome. Either all the cows are going to have to move toward the warm oceans or we will have to figure out how to grow the algae near the cows, both of these are huge undertakings.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagopsis_taxiformis

Re: Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

#13

Post by j-pb »

rebuilder wrote: post #5
airhead969 wrote: post #4

This is like improving ICEs to enable their continued existence. To what end? How about eliminating meat ag altogether since it's a waste of resources, a significant component of man-made climate change, a pandemic risk, a major source of pollution, driver of deforestation, and poses a threat to antibiotic resistance? But no, the typical rationalizations include: "Muh cheezburger is muh freedom. I can eat whatever I…

The devil is in the details, like: how do you get it done?

You mean convince people to stop eating meat?

It's already happening. At least in germany the number of vegan meat alternatives has exploded.

These used to be niche products, you could only get in specialty stores. Now there's whole supermarked isles dedicated to them.

The solution is pretty simple.

Stop subsidizing meat and diary farmers. Stop their lobbying, which results in ridiculous laws like the ones in the EU, where you're not allowed to call Almond-milk Almond-milk, because the diary lobbied for "milk" to be a protected term.

Put that money into vegan alternatives, and people will buy them automatically.

Re: Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

#14

Post by HDMI_Cable »

airhead969 wrote: post #4

This is like improving ICEs to enable their continued existence. To what end? How about eliminating meat ag altogether since it's a waste of resources, a significant component of man-made climate change, a pandemic risk, a major source of pollution, driver of deforestation, and poses a threat to antibiotic resistance? But no, the typical rationalizations include: "Muh cheezburger is muh freedom. I can eat whatever I…

To be fair, improving ICEs have been a massive help for mitigating climate change. Going from 60s muscle cars to current day hybrids has undoubtedly helped with NOx emissions.

Adding algae to feed might not get rid of meat production altogether, but it is a good transitional step.

Re: Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

#15

Post by samuelbalogh »

rebuilder wrote: post #5
airhead969 wrote: post #4

This is like improving ICEs to enable their continued existence. To what end? How about eliminating meat ag altogether since it's a waste of resources, a significant component of man-made climate change, a pandemic risk, a major source of pollution, driver of deforestation, and poses a threat to antibiotic resistance? But no, the typical rationalizations include: "Muh cheezburger is muh freedom. I can eat whatever I…

The devil is in the details, like: how do you get it done?

Use the soy we are feeding cattle to feed humans directly. Cut out the middleman - lots of resources freed up all of a sudden.

Keep subsidies to beef low and increase subsidies for plant protein (peas, beans, soy).

Encourage healthy plant-based diets all over the world.

Profit from the vast areas saved to start reforestation projects.

Re: Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

#16

Post by calvinmorrison »

j-pb wrote: post #6

I guess everything helps, but we put so much effort into the problems with easy solutions, that could be invested into the difficult stuff. Livestock contributes to 15% of all greenhouse gasses. But the solution is easy, cheap, and only midly inconvenient. Going vegan. This has the added benefit of protecting threatened ecosystems in the rainforrest and seas. We could then spend that energy on the difficult stuff. Fa…

So we could all go vegan, skip off our normal diets, a huge change to the world OR china could stop running their very dirty coal plants.

Please stop making everything _my_ problem when other countries do not give a rats ass.

Re: Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

#18

Post by 52-6F-62 »

frankbreetz wrote: post #12

"Transportation of the processed or unprocessed seaweed should be kept to a minimum, so cultivation in the region of use is recommended specially to avoid long-haul shipping." "Asparagopsis taxiformis, (red sea plume or limu kohu) formerly A. sanfordiana, is a species of red algae, with cosmopolitan distribution in tropical to warm temperate waters."[0] This seems to be a pretty big hurdle to overcome. Either all the…

I think farming it at scale is something some groups are already pursuing—likely mainly because it could mean big, big business.

I'm out of my depth, but is there any reason it couldn't be farmed in a hothouse?

Re: Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

#20

Post by account4mypc »

j-pb wrote: post #6

I guess everything helps, but we put so much effort into the problems with easy solutions, that could be invested into the difficult stuff. Livestock contributes to 15% of all greenhouse gasses. But the solution is easy, cheap, and only midly inconvenient. Going vegan. This has the added benefit of protecting threatened ecosystems in the rainforrest and seas. We could then spend that energy on the difficult stuff. Fa…

eating less meat is a good idea, but why go to zero? how about eat beef up to once a week or smth like that?

i think making a point more extreme than necessary motivates people to disagree with you

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