Not the first time the alarmists have warned us about cow flatulence.
Via IBT:
A new study of methane emissions finds that the U.S. is spewing 50 percent more methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times better at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere than the Environmental Protection Agency previously assumed. Several factors contribute to the accumulation of methane gas in Earth’s atmosphere, such as the burning of fossil fuels and leaks from oil and gas refining and drilling, but one contender stands out above the rest as particularly repugnant: cow farts.
“Overall, we conclude that methane emissions associated with both the animal husbandry and fossil fuel industries have larger greenhouse gas impacts than indicated by existing inventories,” the authors of the study, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, wrote.
According to the new research, livestock’s noxious flatulence accounts for a large portion of the methane gas being released into the atmosphere. Researchers say cows are producing twice as much methane gas as scientists previously believed. The states producing the most methane gas were Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas – which also happen to have a lot of cows, oil and gas.
Carbon dioxide is still the primary greenhouse gas, which research has shown contributes significantly to global warming. But methane is certainly a formidable contender, among others such as nitrous oxide and ozone.