Tuesday, February 12, 2019

The Bullshit About Cattle Farts

If you pay attention to the Green New Deal and the incessant screaming from the vegan community, you'll think that cattle farts containing methane are the worst threat to the climate.  The UN has backed this lame idea before but their claims have some serious mistakes in them.  Mistakes or lies.  I have several good sources on that, but The BlazeTV released a short video of an interview with Dr. Sara Place, an academic researcher in animal science and sustainability.  This is only five minutes long and gives a good start.



First off, the methane from cows is 1.8% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the US.  Second off, methane doesn't come from cattle farts, it comes from cattle burps.  I realize that might be a minor distinction, but the EPA, those high priests of junk science, jumped on the "regulate cattle farts" bandwagon under Obama.  The UN claims cattle create 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions - more than comes from transportation - but they're lumping in all livestock, not just cattle, to include poultry, lamb and all sources of meat.  They're also including the effects of animal feed production, feed harvesting, feeding the animals, the farm vehicles that tend to these animals and everything up to the emissions from the slaughterhouse.  A third of that 18% is blamed on deforestation specifically in Brazil.

Both of those summaries are dishonest.  First, it's not fair to blame methane production in chicken farming on cattle farming, and it's unfair to include everything that the goes into food production to just the tailpipe emissions of vehicles rather than the equivalent entire life cycle associated with transportation.  Second, the part about deforestation is dishonest for two reasons; the easiest being that there's no equivalent deforestation in the US, or in other parts of the world.  In the US the story is reforestation.  We have more trees today than a hundred years ago.  The other reason is that not all grassland could be forest and not all forest can convert to grasslands.  There is some relation between the two, but it's not simple subtraction.  Simply, much of the planet can't be dense forest and can only be grassland. 

One of the most interesting videos from Ted talks about science is a 2013 talk about desertification by Allan Savory.  Dr. Savory talks about discovering that large herds of grass eating animals restore grasslands and reverse the damages to the environment.  Yes, herds of life stock "save the Earth".  It's a story of how a hundred years of following the agricultural scientists' best recommendations and removing livestock converted lush grassland to wastelands, and how reintroducing livestock has restored millions of hectares of that wasteland to productive grassland.  The before and after pictures toward the last few minutes of the video are jaw-dropping. 

Dr. Savory recommends eating the livestock, which naturally makes the the vegans haaaate him with a white hot, burning hate.

An interesting guy I've heard talk on this subject several times is Dr. Peter Ballerstedt, who calls himself a leader of the Ruminati.  He's an infrequent blogger, and regular speaker at various conferences.  Here's a quick summary of the basis for a new video, We Need A Ruminant Revolution.
Human beings exist because of ruminants. Today’s societies rely upon them. Humanity’s future depends upon improvements in the productivity and efficiency of worldwide ruminant animal agriculture. Like the general public’s confusion of what constitutes a “healthy diet,” tremendous misunderstanding exists regarding the environmental role of ruminant animals. Human beings didn’t evolve to eat meat, they evolved because they ate meat - and because they learned to cook and process meat and other foodstuffs. Unsurprisingly then, diets rich in butter, meat and cheese have been shown to promote human health and development. Of significant worldwide impact, such diets can correct the symptoms of metabolic syndrome, offering hope in arresting the current worldwide epidemic of chronic diseases.
The dire predictions from Anorexia Pistachio Kotex and her Democratic Socialists of America comrades that say we need to end cattle farts would be laughable without the need for a single fart joke.  Except it's not funny, it would kill many people and make the planet worse off because the planet needs livestock.  The planet needs ruminants.  You can say they were designed for each other or you can say they co-evolved this way, but the result is the same.  Like everything they say, this argument is demonstrably wrong.




8 comments:

  1. But try explaining this to the Left and you see their eyes glazing over.

    Remember, these are the same idjits that stop controlled burns and selective harvesting that keep forests alive and vibrant. The same idjits that love wildlife and endangered species but put up giant killer fans and solar burn beams that decimate species. The same ones that feed their newborn babies a strict vegetarian diet, thus inducing permanent mental deficits in their children.

    And so much more.

    It's easier to win an argument with your own reflection than with a leftist.

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  2. For a look at what might happen if the anti-cow loons get their way, see:

    "Fallen Angels", Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Michael Flynn.

    The ice is there, just waiting.

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  3. Bring back the buffalo / American bison for grazing out in the high plains. https://almatcboykin.wordpress.com/2019/02/09/animals-and-environments-2-the-land-and-the-bison-2/

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  4. They don't care. And neither do their electorate. The hive dwellers stand below the openings in the outhouse with their mouths agape, yearning to lap up whatever descends to them. And then they vote. And if those votes are not enough, realize that the Communists spewing these lies COUNT the votes. In every hive across this country. Brenda Snipes is not even REMOTELY unique.

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    Replies
    1. Isn't it amazing (not really) in how many cities the Democrats control the election process and the counting of the votes. I can't recall their tallies ever being challenged by the Right until the Bush-Gore debacle, unless we go back to the Battle of Athens, TN, where veterans returned from the war fought an actual battle with the corrupt Sheriff and his band of scum, returning a bit of liberty to their town.

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    2. I think it was Ann Coulter who first led me to the observation that conservatives rarely want to grow up and go work for the government. They're more interested in innovating something and getting the rewards. Or at least more interested in just doing something worthwhile for society.

      Besides, after Bush v Kerry in 2004, a bunch of hardline Democrats started and funded the Secretaries of State Project to ensure Democrats owned all of those positions. They were motivated by Bush v Gore in 2000 but didn't start spending money until later.

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  5. I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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