Belching and farting sheep and cattle account for a fifth ofall global emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that isworse than carbon dioxide (CO2). But a new vaccine can helpthe animals pass less gas.
A vaccine against the three microbes which produce methanein sheep stomachs reduced methane belches by 8% in a 13-hourtest. Eventually Australian scientists hope to produce avaccine which reduces an even greater percentage of methaneemissions.
Methane is not as common as CO2, but has 23 times moreability to trap heat from the sun. Methane is released intothe atmosphere from agriculture, landfills, natural wetlandsand mining, while CO2 comes mainly from burning oil, gas andcoal.
Even if we fill the world with windmills, we’ll still haveto deal with the sheep.
There are small ways to makebigchanges.
NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.
Subscribers, to watch the subscriber version of the video, first log in then click on Dreamland Subscriber-Only Video Podcast link.