India battles to cut greenhouse gases from cattle
Published: 10 August, 2009, 12:00
Edited: 22 November, 2009, 14:31
TAGS: Animals, Ecology, Global warming, Asia, SciTech
Global warming is normally associated with the gases coming out of cars and factories, but it seems India's contribution to heating the planet is mostly four-legged and sacred.
Local scientists are now trying to make the country's cows eat better and emit less gas.
Each cow emits 200 kilograms of methane into the atmosphere, every day.
That may not sound like much, but put hundreds of millions of them together, and you have a monumental problem. Consequently, India's livestock contributes more to global warming than the country's cars and factories put together.
At the National Dairy Research Institute at Karnal, 160 km from the capital New Delhi, Dr. Singhal explains that, despite the threat of global warming, livestock are the backbone of India's rural economy and cannot be simply wished away.
“Whatever [an] animal consumes is fermented inside their stomachs and methane is being produced, and that is emitted into the environment. So it is a problem,” Dr. Singhal says.
Unlike its robust counterparts in Western countries, the majority of India's livestock is underfed and undernourished, and given poor-quality feed. This means higher amounts of methane being emitted.
So scientists are working on ways to improve their diets, and cause them to emit smaller amounts of the gas.
The typical Indian farmer is unable to buy expensive dietary supplements created in the West. So the emphasis here is on finding indigenous solutions, for example herbal additives that contain the chemical saponin. These are cheaper and reduce methane emission by 20%. The institute believes it could have a marketable product within three years.
“Methane emissions are going to play a more important role in global warming than carbon dioxide in this century. This is absolutely true, because the rate at which methane is increasing, is 6 to 7 times higher than carbon dioxide… The projects which we are planning, if we succeed in them, then certainly we will be a leader in solving the problem of global warming related to the livestock sector,” Dr. Anil Kumar Srivastava, head of the National Dairy Research Institute says.
This is where a key battle against global warming will be fought. India is hoping to set the pace when it comes to research against methane emissions. By that, it hopes to change what is a disadvantage – in terms of number of livestock – into an advantage.
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A tax could be put on each cow to help clean up the envirenment. Then India could buy exemption from Chinese coal burning industry so they can raise more cows and get a CAP AND TRADE BENEFIT. Just kidding but the world has really gone crazy so nothing would surprise me. Cows do create a lot of gas and fertilizer and are a lot of work to raise and hay is getting very expensive. Perhaps each family could be allowed only one cow to keep down the cow population. I have heard of countries limiting the number of children that a family can have to only one. No, just leave the cows and kids alone.
This is absolutely ridiculous! Life has been inhabiting the planet before humans even been on the planet. And now we are worried about cow farts? All living things that consume release gas due to digestion. This is ridiculous!!! Climate change is always occurring. Man has negative effects on the environment, that isn't being argued, but to say we are turning our atmosphere into a sauna is a joke!!! Where was my summer?! I wanted it to be warm at least so I could have gone swimming. Too bad it was TOO COLD!!!!! Melting of the ice? Why did the ice on the poles grow? They expand and contract each year. Polar bears are always shown, poor bears have no place to sit, their ice has melted. Well, where do they get their food? THE WATER.. When it is all frozen over they don't eat well, now, do they? Polar bears are effected by chemicals we released in the environment. So it seems the big companies always win. They poison life, they force us to use fluorescent light bulbs, and pay more taxes. Cow farts.. haha!! How about we should tax politicians when they speak.
If Indian cows produce 200 Kgs of Methene a day the country does not need nuclear power! Just pipes in the right places! The weight of the Cow itself going up in gas everyday - what a joke! Is this a serious story? Get serious RT and verify your facts before putting them out otherwise no one will take you seriously.