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Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

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Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#111

Post by phkahler »

crispweed wrote: post #82
malloryerik wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any immediate economic incentive to adding algae into feed? Wouldn't you agree that markets don't deal effectively with many or most commercial endeavors' unwanted side effects (negative externalities), and so authorities often need to step in when market failure causes damage? In this case, if the science is real, a global treaty would seem in order to simply mandate the effective use of seaweed in cow feed…

As other posters have said, it seems like it can be tricky to incentivise cattle owners to add algae to their feed, check this has actually been added, in proportions that have the desired effect, and so on. But how about if governments provide subsidised feed centrally, instead, with the algae added?

What if it turns out to make healthier cows? I'm not just making that up, I think it will probably have a positive effect - cows need iodine too! Not sure if it's enough to sway farmers.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#112

Post by circlefavshape »

lloydde wrote: post #25
amingilani wrote: post #18

Few stories make me as happy as this one did. Thank you OP. Hopefully in the future I can enjoy a beef-steak guilt-free! The cow methane problem is one that literally keeps me up at night. I kept thinking about my inevitable switch to chicken and missing out on a tenderloin.. and how my kids won't be able to eat like me.

I feel ya and it would make my feel a little better about my meat treats, but improving that end (pun) of the equation seems to be a smaller problem than the energy required. > The findings, while expected, are quite sobering. Pork, chicken, dairy and eggs are equivalent within a factor of two when it came to their environmental burdens, the authors determined. But beef requires far, far more resources than any of th…

Pork and chicken require less land? Could that be because they're usually kept in cages?

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#113

Post by Havoc »

Mister_X wrote: post #59

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, because right now the West coast from San Francisco North to at least Fort Bragg, has been suffering a kelp die off of great proportions. No one is quite sure whats going on, but apparently due to climate change, or at least warmer ocean water from further South that we've had for the last 5 or more years, has caused the kelp to die off at a rapid rate, to the point o…

>It's as big a catastrophe as the Australian coral die off

Not really. Kelp grows at 3+ inches a day. Coral <1 inch per year.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#114

Post by colechristensen »

torstenvl wrote: post #110
briandear wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one knows what’s going on, so climate change is the default blame? But actually, California Fish and Wildlife DO know what’s going on: “Environmental stressors included impacts from a toxic algae bloom off the Sonoma coast in 2011, a widespread sea star disease in 2013 that was followed by an explosion in the sea urchin population, and the warm water conditions that have persisted offshore since 2014. In 2014 and…

TFW your climate change denialism goes so far off the deep end that you literally claim that warmer water in the most global of the oceans isn't related to global warming...

Climate change isn't the weather. It isn't one year or several years, it's a trend over decades or centuries or millennia.

Do you know what's normal? Abnormal weather. Exceptional circumstances happen all the time, weather conditions do not follow a bell curve.

I am not at all denying climate change, but you can never point to an event and shout about it. It's a long term statistical trend, not a few coincidental events. It's one variable out of many that cause every weather event.

Warmer water is absolutely not related to climate change when you're talking about small scale short term events.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#115

Post by greenpenguin »

briandear wrote: post #106
Mister_X wrote: post #59

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, because right now the West coast from San Francisco North to at least Fort Bragg, has been suffering a kelp die off of great proportions. No one is quite sure whats going on, but apparently due to climate change, or at least warmer ocean water from further South that we've had for the last 5 or more years, has caused the kelp to die off at a rapid rate, to the point o…

No one knows what’s going on, so climate change is the default blame? But actually, California Fish and Wildlife DO know what’s going on: “Environmental stressors included impacts from a toxic algae bloom off the Sonoma coast in 2011, a widespread sea star disease in 2013 that was followed by an explosion in the sea urchin population, and the warm water conditions that have persisted offshore since 2014. In 2014 and…

From the article you link: - Sea star disease: probably linked to increased sea temperatures, see https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.0007... - Warm blob: nobody seems quite sure to what extent climate change is involved here, see: https://phys.org/news/2015-04-wedge-seawater-blob-blamed-mar... but to be clear, this is literally an increase in ocean temperature

I'm not saying "hey this is definitely due to climate change", but ridiculing the suggestion that an event apparently linked to increased ocean temperatures might have something to do with climate change seems a little off.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#116

Post by throwaway5752 »

Havoc wrote: post #113
Mister_X wrote: post #59

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, because right now the West coast from San Francisco North to at least Fort Bragg, has been suffering a kelp die off of great proportions. No one is quite sure whats going on, but apparently due to climate change, or at least warmer ocean water from further South that we've had for the last 5 or more years, has caused the kelp to die off at a rapid rate, to the point o…

>It's as big a catastrophe as the Australian coral die off Not really. Kelp grows at 3+ inches a day. Coral <1 inch per year.

The rate of growth is immaterial if the die-off is because of a permanent change, which there is every reason to believe is the case (based on every model of climate change, and it will only get worse).

Also, the rest of the trophic web that the kelp forms the basis for is hosed. Since they are one of the most productive ecosystems, it's kind of a big deal.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#117

Post by throwaway5752 »

colechristensen wrote: post #114
torstenvl wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TFW your climate change denialism goes so far off the deep end that you literally claim that warmer water in the most global of the oceans isn't related to global warming...

Climate change isn't the weather. It isn't one year or several years, it's a trend over decades or centuries or millennia. Do you know what's normal? Abnormal weather. Exceptional circumstances happen all the time, weather conditions do not follow a bell curve. I am not at all denying climate change, but you can never point to an event and shout about it. It's a long term statistical trend, not a few coincidental eve…

"Warmer water is absolutely not related to climate change when you're talking about small scale short term events."

Do you understand how statistics work?

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#118

Post by [deleted] »

Retric wrote: post #102
konschubert wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One also has to consider that the methane decays over a matter of decades. Other than CO2, which stays in the atmosphere until it is taken out. So, even if methane takes a big share in current greenhouse emissions, its share in the accumulated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will be lower. The climate change it causes is temporary. (Disregarding runaway effects.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_methane

Methane contains carbon so it's not 100% temporary just mostly.

[deleted]

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#119

Post by tomohawk »

Perhaps they should study the nutritional impacts of the resulting beef before they get too far with this. Grass fed beef is much tastier and much more nutritious than feed lot fed beef.

Does feeding the seaweed reduce the need for using antibiotics required when feeding corn to cattle? That would be a real win.

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