Seaweed and cows

Source: The BBC

From Upworthy:

Climate change deniers often mock the claim that gas expelled from cows, either through the mouth or the bottom, is a major cause of global warming.

It was even a point of debate when Republicans were discussing the Green New Deal.

But it's true. According to the United Nations, livestock farming produces about 18% of environmentally damaging gases — and about a quarter of that chunk comes from cow emissions.

When cows digest food in their intestines it ferments, which causes them to expel methane. When methane is released into the atmosphere without being burned off, it absorbs the sun's heat, warming the atmosphere.

Dr. Nick Paul, a University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) Seaweed Research Group leader Associate Professor, believes he may have a solution to the massive amount of greenhouse gasses expelled by cows.

He has discovered that when cows eat asparagopsis, a puffy pink seaweed that grows prolifically off the Queensland Coast in Australia, they stop producing methane.

"When added to cow feed at less than two percent of the dry matter, this particular seaweed completely knocks out methane production," Dr. Paul said in a statement. "It contains chemicals that reduce the microbes in the cows' stomachs that cause them to burp when they eat grass."

Plus, the cows think it's pretty tasty.

"Seaweed is something that cows are known to eat. They will actually wander down to the beach and have a bit of a nibble," Dr. Paul said.

[Read more here]

In humans, gut bacteria are vital to digestion and to the production of B vitamins and certain lipids.  What if that's also true of cows?  I have no idea.  But if this works it could reduce methane emissions substantially.   This matters because methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas:

Methane, along with carbon dioxide and other molecules, contributes significantly to the greenhouse effect. Reflected energy from the sun in the form of longer wavelength infrared radiation excites methane molecules instead of traveling out into space. This warms up the atmosphere, enough that methane contributes to about 20% of the warming due to greenhouse gases, second in importance behind carbon dioxide.

Because of the chemical bonds within its molecule methane is much more efficient at absorbing heat than carbon dioxide (as much as 86 times more), making it a very potent greenhouse gas. Fortunately, methane can only last about 10 to 12 years in the atmosphere before it gets oxidized and turns into water and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide lasts for centuries.

[Read more here]