I have said before that I believe climate change is at least partially due to human activity. You know. Lots of carbon dioxide gets into the atmosphere, partially depletes the ozone layer, lets more sunlight in and things warm up. I think that’s happening. I just don’t think it’s happening at the same dire rate as some other folks. But Tuesday, I read about another threat to the environment that probably isn’t getting near enough attention. Drew Nelson, writing for the Environmental Defense Fund, reported on the latest World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency. That’s a study that “projects how global energy systems will evolve between now and 2040 and estimates their relative impact on the climate.” A big takeaway from the most recent survey was that cutting oil and gas methane is a key pillar of global climate change strategy. “The report confirms and builds on IEA’s findings from earlier this summer — that global emissions could peak by 2020 without slowing economic growth, and that reducing methane emissions from the world’s oil and gas industry is one of the fastest, biggest opportunities to make significant climate progress now,” Nelson reported. So methane is bad, too. The IEA was focused on the gas and oil industry, but that’s not the only industry that generates methane. We’ve got other problems to deal with. Namely, pumpkins, farm animals and kangaroos. Jennifer Pompi reported in the Washington Times that, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, holiday pumpkins are responsible for pumping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Seems most of the 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins produced in the U.S. each year wind up in a landfill, creating 254 million pounds of solid waste. This waste decomposes into “a harmful greenhouse gas that plays a part in climate change,” the DOE says. You guessed it – methane. But there is a silver lining. The DOE also says that very same solid waste can be used to generate “bioenergy.” The DOE is partnering with private industry to develop two “integrated biorefineries.” These are “facilities capable of efficiently converting plant and waste material into affordable biofuels, biopower and other products.” Whew. That was a close one. I thought for a minute there we were all going to have to cut back on pumpkin pie and jack-o-lanterns. New research also has dispelled a myth that I wasn’t even aware existed. Apparently, for a long time, it was believed that kangaroos don’t, ah, flatulate. Or if they do, their flatulence doesn’t produce the same levels of the dreaded methane as other animals. But Lauren Boyer, reporting in U.S. News and World Report, cites a new study that proves the contrary. “The beasts once were the mystery of the animal kingdom – thought to produce low-methane, environmentally friendly toots,” she writes. But the study, from the University of Zurich, Switzerland dispels that notion. Forty years ago, researchers thought a certain, special bacteria in the digestive tracts of kangaroos lessened the amount of methane as they broke wind. It was actually thought there might be a way to introduce the same bacteria into cows, which produce high levels of methane when they pass gas. But no. Seems kangaroos generate just about the same amount of methane as other like-sized mammals. “Kangaroos are not mysteriously low methane-producing creatures, but herbivores with an active methane-producing microbe community,” said Marcus Clauss from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. And then there are cows. According to livescience.com, “Ruminants are herbivores that regurgitate their food to re-chew it. Microorganisms in the animal’s gut break down carbohydrates into simpler molecules. “Ruminants including cattle and deer produce large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas with an impact on the atmosphere 23 times greater than that of carbon dioxide. The production of methane by this process is called enteric fermentation, and it accounts for more than a quarter of methane emissions in the United States.” OK, now wait a minute. Let’s think this through. Pound for pound, methane is 23 times worse for the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. And a quarter of all the methane gas produced in the U.S. come from ruminants. Beyond the fact that cow flatulence is poised to kill us all, there are the other costs to the environment associated with raising great big cows for us to consume. You have to clear the land and grow the grain to feed them. All that takes enormous amounts of energy and contributes carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. (Last time I checked, there weren’t any electric combines or tractors.) Then you have to truck the cows to big processing plants – trucks use lots of fuel – where they use millions of kilowatt hours of electricity to dice them up. Finally, you have to truck them to the store where they appear fresh and tasty in your favorite meat counter. It seems obvious to me what needs to happen. Not only do you have to sell your pickup truck and buy a fuel-efficient hybrid, you must stop eating steaks and burgers. Might as well start now. It probably won’t be long before the government gets involved. And while you’re at it, shoot a few kangaroos. I think the pumpkins will be safe for awhile, though.
