Poor Cow?? How about the "technican" that has to hook the thing up or plug it in, or what ever?

Wonder if the technican gets carbon credits for trapping the gas.

Technican goes home at night, spouse asked "how was your day". Technican says (insert your vile language here)!!! Probably has to take his boots off before going into the house.

sniff, sniff.

This really isn't off topic, because something stinks over at ClimateProgress. They accepted a commment I made, posted it, returned it to awaiting-moderation limbo, then deleted it, all over the course of two days.

What could I have written that would've tweaked Joe Romm? Click on my URL link.

The EPA has ordered 10 million of these devices from Argentina. Beginning in 2009 all U.S. bovine methane will be collected and then sequestered in giant plastic bags for thousands of years in the Yucca Mtn. facility.
The new green-endorsed food will be "flatulance sequestered" beef. Even better than free-range chicken.
The downside is that Texans will miss the smell. :)

I wounder who is the bigger polluter or can we tell the difference...another Telegraph article ...
world's biggest polluter

Most American and European beef cattle are raised ankle deep in excrement, so the one in the picture doesn't have it so bad. Reply: Yes, I notice that at a lot of the farms near where I live.

Want to do something good for the environment, animals, food prices, water supplies, and your health all at the same time? Then I suggest that you stop eating beef.

Additionally, the use of antibiotics in cattle is a primary cause of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Brett, it's belch gas (mostly, anyway). That probably smells better, although just between us primates it should be recognized that ruminant farts aren't all that offensive.

Brett, you beat me to it. I was just about to post a link to that article. Reply: Don't feel so bad, there were a couple others who beat me to the punch. Oh well, we need a good laugh every now and then. Good for the mind!

Lol Brett I'm guessing you like that picture of the poor cow... It had me laughing too.. haha

The narration to the Reuters video here makes it clear that the gas is being collected directly from the cow stomachs. This would be the same as belch gas.

It's interesting how the other coverage, including Fox News, went straight for the fart joke.

Brett, I hope you're aware that this is a serious matter. There are an awful lot of cows in the world, and while shifting their diet to reduce methane emissions isn't going to make a huge difference, if one were to make a list of a hundred or so specific programmatic steps that could be done to reduce GHG emissions, this would likely be on it. Bear in mind that we're taking methane here, emissions of which have a warming effect ~25 times greater than CO2.

Reply: Steve, I linked to the one of my previous blogs about the methane from belching cows and it was not humorous. It discussed the concerns and possible solutions. Sometimes it is nice to have a "lighter" moment every now and then, but I guess it's not for everyone.

Well first of all farmers are already feeding clover and alfalfa regularly to cows. My neighbors have all just cut their alfalfa(twice) and in fact one farmer just harvested about 20 acres of nothing but clover. I don't have direct knowledge of how much grain cows are getting today, but I can comment that most horse owners are feeding grains to their horses. I am probably the lone exception. It could be that because of the high cost of grains many will choose to alter their feeding requirements and get the nutrients needed for their livestock from different sources.

When looking at greenhouse gases isn't it true that methane has increased considerably more than CO2 and is much more potent as a greenhouse gas??? Are we going to blame livestock for that now????

Brett, re-reading your post, obviously you are aware that it's a serious issue.

Reply: Steve............It was a funny picture, that's all. Get over it!! The whole issue of methane and livestock is not funny, OK.

Uhhhh...well.....hmmmm..huh..lets see..I wonder what happens when its full? I'm at a lost for words.....

Wow! and CO2 levels just keep going up.

Looks like Globally, Jan to May of this year is the 12th warmest in recorded history.

AND The warmest Jan to May of all time was just last year (2007). L

Look here for details:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2008/may/global.html#temp

Brett,

Just imagine: if it was hydrogen instead of methane, we would have cows floating around everywhere! That could get messy for those of us down below....

Brett:
I think I have found a good solution. After all, we are looking for accountability and commitment.I think everyone in California should have their own green bag. Prove that you are REALLY going green!
Environmental Protection Act ... liament]] relating to the transfer, treatment and disposal of [[controlled wastes]]. A waste producer therefore has to take reasonable care to ensure that the waste he generates is not passed to a third party. OH! And don't forget Seattle.
KIPP

The animal rights folk will be heard from soon, about this abuse of the dignity of cows.

What about the bison, or the millions of herbivores roaming the African Savannah? How much methane do they contribute?

I hope you're aware that this is a serious matter. There are an awful lot of cows in the world, and while shifting their diet to reduce methane emissions isn't going to make a huge difference, if one were to make a list of a hundred or so specific programmatic steps that could be done to reduce GHG emissions.

REPLY: Hey Steve Bloom. You are joking, right??? And this is a guy who probably votes, ladies and gents. That's giving me the creeps, big time!

Reply: Steve............It was a funny picture, that's all. Get over it!! The whole issue of methane and livestock is not funny, OK.

REPLY: You have to understand, Brett, that people like our old pal, Steve, have no sense of humor when it comes to their upside down world of tree hugging environmentalism and liberalism. Only a _____ would take absurd nonsense like this seriously.

Quote from Anonymous "The warmest Jan to May of all time was just last year." Of ALL time? who has the records for 1100AD? More like the past 50 years.

Brett, I disagree. I think the whole issue of methane, livestock and CO2 is just hilarious! I enjoy reading some of the panic stricken posts from the environmentalists.

How about you posting a nice "doomsday" article next? This should really get them to chime in with whatever nonsense they can think of.

For anyone interested, check out this graph. It shows yearly averaged sunspot numbers from 1610 to 2007. Do you notice any correlation/trend with temperatures?

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/solarcycleupdate/ssn_yearlyNew2.jpg

Don't feel guilty about living life. Help the earth. Be GreenHG.

Fossil fuels are supposed to be bad because they release carbon into the atmosphere that was taken out of the carbon cycle millions of years ago. But where does the carbon from "cattle emissions" come from?

Obviously cattle and other farm animals are consuming and re-emitting carbon already in the system. But I wonder if we can get carbon credits for sequestering cattle methane emissions? Is it possible to pump this gas into deep underground reservoirs for sequestration? Since methane is 23 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than CO2, would that qualify for 23x carbon credits per ton?

Here's an even better idea: Methane is a relatively clean burning gas. Let's attach carbon-capture devices to all farm animals and then collect the methane at a central location. The farm can then burn the methane to generate power. T. Boone Pickens can lobby Congress to force the power companies to purchase any excess electricity produced by the farms. Everybody wins!

lmao brett, no pun intended...what really gets me is that worshippers of AGW believe this kind of research crap (again, no pun intended) is worth something...classic AGW research dollars disappearing like a fart in the wind for nothing...as ole oizy would say, PROOF agw is full of hotair...i would suspect the argentinians arent aware of the millions of buffalo that onced roamed the north american prairies, but if they do, i am sure they would conclude that those herds of buffalo ate methane lean prairie grass, therefore they didnt cause impending global meltdown like us dairy farmers...too much fun for a friday, time to make like a cow pattie and hit the trail...peace, bros!!!

This is the stupidest, most idiotic drivel ever!!!! (BTW, where is PETA???)

NAmerica and Europe export quite a bit of grains and meat to poor nations. Until 2006, the world had about a 12 week food surplus. Last month, the UN said the world is down to 5 weeks.

The poor nations will be the first to suffer the consequences of AGW mitigation. The corn ethanol subsidies have not only affected corn prices, but also affect other grains as farmers have stopped gowing wheat, barley, oats, and soybeans. Cattle and horse fodder have gotten so expensive that many are getting out of the livestock markets altogether. The end result is a dwindling supply of grain and meat. The run up in commodity prices is not just due to speculation due to a weak dollar. One bad harvest in Canada or the US Great Plains would be inconvienent for Americans, but catastrophic for developing nations. With food prices worldwide sky-rocketing, most poorer nations do not have the cash reserves to keep thier stocks up.

It may be great fun to debate AGW abstractions on internet blogs, but it's quite a different situtation to live with the consequences.

Anonymous:

Thank you for your drive-by weather report. It was full of meaningless and misleading details.

The first problem is "recorded history". This doesn't mean the same thing in climate reports as it does with other areas of study. Change "recorded history" to "the last 30 years" and see if that has as much impact.

Also, you listed only one source. NOAA is always among the highest global temperature estimates. Non-government sources rank January to May as much lower.

In short, I'm not impressed any neither should any knowledgeable person be.

A cynical person might accuse the NOAA of trying to disguise the fact that the climate is not currently warming and has in fact slightly cooled over the last few years.

Jan to May of this year is the 12th warmest in recorded history.

AKA the coldest year of the millennium.

http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/uah/from:1988/plot/rss/from:1988

Off topic; sorry

James Hansen, like Al Gore, refuses offer to defend his position in debate before a university body.
Hmmmmmmm.

http://media.www.vainformer.com/media/storage/paper1335/news/2008/04/23/News/Nasa-Climatologist.not.Interested.In.Defending.Own.Views.On.Global.Warming.At.Wm-3386341.shtml

John Galt: "A cynical person might accuse the NOAA of trying to disguise the fact that the climate is not currently warming and has in fact slightly cooled over the last few years."

Don't get me wrong, bust isn't climate defined as a long-term trend in weather patterns? How can you say the "climate" is not currently warming based on a pattern noticed in the past few years? I think your statement should be adjusted to say "the short-term weather pattern has cooled slightly over the last few years" to be more accurate.

Short-term oscillations do not a climate make.

Dear Brett thank you for opening by nose er eyes to a new market for carbon credits. i'll get legisation passed requiring 1 carbon credit per year per horse, cow, and pig/1 credit for every 2 goats or sheep. farmers will be required to buy offsets for all their animals. this should add and additional billion credits to the open interest of contacts to be traded. at $10 net profit per contract and i get 10% of the contacts why that 1 billion per year and you wondered why i spent 200 million to educate the public on this issue. I would just like to say Brett that it has been well worth getting both complemented and dissed on this website for the past year and my daily reading has now paid off for me. yours truly alfred e goreman