Exonerated!

Cows have been absolved of causing global warming with their methane emissions. I think they still emit just as much methane as before, but a new study has shown that their grazing on grasslands can cut “emissions of a powerful greenhouse gas: nitrous oxide.” (Does it seem ironic to anyone else that climate change fanatics are in a tizzy about the over-production of laughing gas?)

According to an article in the online Telegraph.co.uk, cows, once noted as the greatest source of methane production on the planet, have been found to make up for that by their grazing. A study of grasslands in China revealed that when the grass is long, the snow lies atop it, trapping heat and moisture on the ground which encourages the growth of microbes in the soil, and those microbes produce the nitrous oxide. When the grass is cropped by herbivores like cows (I love cows) the snow settles close to the ground, freezing it and thus compromising the environment conducive to microbe proliferation.

Long live cows! (And sheep — they’re good, too)

Down with microbes! Has anyone measured the carbon footprint of microbes? I understand they are quite active in tropical and swampy areas. And rice paddies.

Actually I also recall reading a study a few months back that said the greatest source of CO2 was not man, but the soil itself, breaking down as it aged. There is an awful lot of aging soil on this planet…

0 thoughts on “Exonerated!

  1. Loren Warnemuende

    Too funny! Maybe it’ll be okay again soon to eat more beef (because, after all, isn’t one of reasons we should cut down our beef consumption is so that we’ll shut down nasty cattle ranches with all those steer producing bad methane?):) And if that sentence makes any sense I should be in politics….

    Reply
  2. Gayle

    I am a Texan; therefore, I eat beef. I eat game. I also carry a gun. I shoot stuff. Yes, I cling to God and my guns. I do not care about my carbon footprint. “Below Zero” by C.J. Box is a good fictional read about a misguided, criminal and the system he uses to reduce the carbon footprints of others.

    Reply
    1. karenhancock

      Second time now, you’ve made me laugh, Gayle. And thanks for the book recommend. I’ll be sure to look itup.

      Reply
  3. william blanton

    “There is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends”

    This reminds me of a story of one of the greatest adventures of resent times, and one of the greatest examples of the Christian Virtues that our Lord holds in very high regard. If you have ever read the story of Ernst Shackeltons incredible trip to the South Pole and the decisions that he made, I would suggest that you do, for perhaps this will be of service in the days ahead that most certainly are going to be more difficult beyond anything that you have thus far experienced.

    So much depends on the daily decisions that are quite often very difficult, but nevertheless, necessary to be made. Shackelton had some of the most difficult decision to make that had far greater consequences than the ones in front of us; that seem to pale buy comparison. I am reminded of perhaps the most difficult of decision that he had to make was after finely making it to the whaling station, through some of most incredible actions of determination and faith, and to not wait for even a moment of rest, but rather, return directly back into the frozen “valley of the shadow of death” with one thing in mind: His men. “And” (favorite conjunction again) as he approached the shore of that island in the dingy to personally come ashore to the embrace of his men and to proclaim “I am sorry that it took so long” is absolutely beyond . . .

    This is the embodiment of the suggestion “Take up your cross and Follow me” , the Cross of impersonal love for all man kind, and the Cross of Personal Love for His (and Mine as well) Royal Family of Priest.

    Reply

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