A Tasty Down Under Solution
On a few occasions in the past I have blogged about cows and their belching of methane into the atmosphere. Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas, but there is much less of it in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide.
Anyway, in sort of a follow up to that subject, researchers in Australia have come up with a possible solution (at least in Australia) to this problem. Instead of eating beef, the researchers suggest that Australians should opt for kangaroo meat instead.
According to the study, kangaroos, the national animal of Australia produce no methane through their flatulence since the bacteria in their stomachs makes their digestive process much more efficient. The scientists are also looking at ways to transfer the kangaroo bacteria to cattle and sheep.
In the meantime, if "farmed" kangaroos can replace cows and sheep, farmers will save millions in feed costs and Australia could see a significant drop in greenhouse emissions. The country already produces 30 million farmed kangaroos in the outback.
"Fourteen percent of emissions from all sources in Australia is from enteric methane from cattle and sheep," said Athol Klieve, a senior research scientist with the Queensland state government. In New Zealand, that number could be as high as 50%.
Anyone ever had kangaroo meat before?
Here is the link to the article.
