Uc Science Today

Some researchers say cows are worse than cars when it comes to global warming because they emit more methane than vehicles produce CO2. The theory was disputed, but it turns out it may not be too far from the truth. Physicist Marc Fisher of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found that the amount of methane in the atmosphere has been grossly underestimated, and cows are mainly to blame, at least in California. “The major source of methane in California as a whole is a very large livestock industry in Central Valley. Cows breath out methane it is because their first stomach is essentially a bioreactor, the manure from cows gets put into wastewater treatment or large treatment lagoons.” And Fisher says methane is harder to calculate than carbon dioxide, but it needs to be better regulated – as more careful management of methane emissions could help reduce the threat of climate change.