Methane even worse greenhouse gas than we thought
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Just when you quote a source about how much livestock farming contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, it gets worse. A lot worse. According to a recent article in the London Times, methane – the second most important greenhouse gas produced by human activity – has an even more powerful effect on climate change than previously believed by scientists.
‘Methane’s impact on global temperatures is about a third higher than generally thought because previous estimates have not accounted for its interaction with airborne particles called aerosols, Nasa scientists found.’
–London Times
Faster and more powerful
Instead of being 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, there is new evidence that methane is 33 times as strong as CO2. And since methane breaks down faster than CO2, its effect on the climate is more immediate. This means that a cut in worldwide methane production would have more of an immediate short-term effect on mitigating climate change than any action to reduce CO2 emissions. Of course, CO2 still must be dealt with; it lasts longer and there’s more of it, but the bottom line is that governments and the private sphere should be paying attention to more than just carbon dioxide.
‘Substantial reductions in methane, carbon monoxide and black carbon: that’s the way to make a big difference. I think it should be more of a priority [for Copenhagen].’
– Drew Shindell, of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Methane is estimated to cause about 20% of global warming effects. The main sources of methane are ‘landfill sites, fossil fuel energy and agriculture, particularly rice and livestock farming’ according to the Times.
Factory farmed pigs (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
Check out the full London Times article for the science behind these new discoveries and this opinion piece from the New York Times for a reasonably balanced look (considering it is written by a livestock rancher) at how agriculture – particularly factory farming – contributes to methane emissions as well as other greenhouse gasses like CO2 and nitrogen. Despite the author’s informed opinion, I still say being a responsible vegetarian is one of the simplest ways for most people to reduce their carbon footprint.
By Graham Land
Additional resources:
Goddard Institute for Space Studies
BBC – Ethics of Eating Meat
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Tags: carbon emissions, climate, co2, farming, greenhouse gas, methane
every person should understand his responsibility towards the nature.he should help reducing production of greenhouse gases.for that he must be aware of their origin & effects.
as much as possible, we should minimize the production of Greenhouse Gases. Global warming and Climate change is pretty much getting stronger these days