Global warming and cows?

Question

Some Greenies say that part of the global warming is caused by the high number of cows in the USA. They say that the cows produce methane gas and that causes the earth to warm.

My question is if the USA was populated by millions of millions of buffalo in the 1800's they are close to the same as the cows of today. So if cows cause global warming from the gas they produce then did the Buffalo herds not do the same then?

in responce to the billions and billions of cows in the usa. i think that is from the guy talking about the number of stars in the sky and not cows on the ground. but the history books say that the herds of buffalo were so many that you can not see the ground for the numbers of buffalo. now days you can see the ground so the cows are not as many as the buffalo were then.

Answer 1

cows have a four part digestive system each part takes nutrients out of the food they eat. buffalo, humans,and most other animals all have single compartment stomach as far as global warming my cows are getting a bum rap they are being blamed for small part of a bigger problem that has big money behind it examples;SEWAGE SYSTEMS ,ROTTING GARBAGE AND DUMPS,ENERGY COMPANIES ALLOWED TO VENT METHANE GAS INTO THE ATMOSPHERE (HUNDREDS OF CUBIC FEET PER DAY )probably more than is produced by all the cattle in the world . oh let,s not forget all of the people composting GRASS ,LEAVES, and CUTTINGS for mulch in thier yards and gardens, any and everything rotting and decaying produces methane gas ,all open pit coal mines are seeping methane ,maybe it's all the trillions of people and animals who farted today( excuse my french )so you can see there is lots of factors to this whole problem so please help spread the word if you enjoy your beef ,it's not just my cows thanks

Answer 2

Time to put the record straight...

It's not just cows in the US but cows throughout the world that are the problem. Worldwide there are a little over 3 billion heads of cattle (don't have figures per country) and between them they produce 18% of the global methane emissions, primarily because of the way their digestive system operates (they swallow first and digest in stages in different stomachs), the result is a lot of burping and farting.

Methane accounts for just 0.475% of the greenhouse gas emissions by volume and cattle make up 18% of this - as a contribution to all greenhouse gas emissions cattle are responsible for jost 0.0855%, less than 1 thousandth of the total volume.

However, methane is more damaging than carbon dioxide. It has a 100 year Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 23, compared to CO2 which has a fixed GWP of 1. Some greenhouse gases have GWP's of many thousands.

In total, methane is responsible for 7.949% of the overall contribution to anthropogenic global warming, cattle are responsible for 1.431%.

So, all told, the contribution that cattle make is relatively small. In recent years the number of beasts has risen in line with population and back in the 1800's the population was much smaller than it is today. Although I don't have reliable data, it's probable that the number of cattle was less in the 1800's than it is today. Even if it wasn't, the change in contribution to global warming will be small.

http://profend.com/global-warming/pages/causes.html#12

Answer 3

I have looked at the stats I do know for sure that cows actually do produce more greenhouse gases then cars in the state of California, but that is only half of the story. There are many levels of the carbon cycle, but for simplicity I will split it into two sections long-term and short term. Short term includes things like plant and animals respiration carbon resides in those places from as little as a few minutes to up to five years.

Now to compare it too the long-term cycle. A very, very long time ago there were plants which got barred in bogs, swamps and deltas. They were compressed and made into rocks and oil. That took millions of years and drastically changed the balances between carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere. Now we are releasing carbon that has been stored for millions of years back into the atmosphere, and will take millions of years to fully take out again.

Answer 4

Way to go Jack. This is a good example of using your brain and not following like a bunch of mindless sheep.


Edit:

Enraged is not doing his research. The Bison herds, during migration, were as much as a mile wide and would last for many days. With many migration herds moving across the continent. Each migration herd would contain millions of Buffalo.

When the Buffalo would separate after the migration. They then would only number a few hundred.

Answer 5

Interesting. I'm and environmental activist, and I haven't heard about the cows and methane gas argument.
The only argument I've heard about cows, is that they are not sustainable to raise for food --> the amount of grain it takes to raise a cow is far more than the meat the cow produces when it is slaughtered. All that grain could go to feed lots more hungry people.

Answer 6

There are a great many natural sources and sinks for carbon dioxide. But the present global warming is (mostly) the result of man made CO2 from burning fossil fuels.

There is a natural "carbon cycle" that recycles CO2. But it's a delicate balance and we're messing it up.

Look at this graph.

http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/graphics_gallery/mauna_loa_record/mlo_record.html

The little squiggles are nature doing its' thing. CO2 falls a bit during summer when plants are active, and rises during the winter. The huge increase is us, burning fossil fuels (in addition to the shape of the graph, the increase numerically matches the increase in fossil fuel use; an unlikely coincidence). The natural carbon cycle buried carbon in fossil fuels over a very long time, little bit by little bit. We dig them up and burn them, real fast. That's a problem.

Man is upsetting the balance of nature. We need to fix that.

Answer 7

The US has never, in its entire history, contained anywhere near the number of livestock it has today. Cattle being bred for human consumption in the US today number in the tens of billions.

Edit: Whoever wrote that was no doubt talking about the number of Bison in a single herd. Even a few hundred would be enough to block line of sight to the ground. Hardly an impressive feat.

I also meant to say 'tens of millions', not tens of billions.

Answer 8

It is of course a good question and obviously demonstrates that much of the global warming is pseudoscience. Termites probably produce more than cows. They only chose cows because people have cows. It is more about assigning guilt to people than it is about accomplishing anything or learning anything. This is probably the best example of it.

Answer 9

Why do people who try to denounce global warming over simplify it and focus solely on the United States? It's not just an American issue and it is not cause by any one thing.

Answer 10

dont believe that proagana