Methane (Page 8)

Cow belches and farts are a major source of greenhouse gases that affect climate change even more than vehicle emissions. A new type of cattle feed that is supplemented with oregano, developed by a dairy scientist, could help reduce cow gas emissions by 40%. It also improves milk production.

PhysOrg.com quotes its inventor, Alexander Hristov, as saying, “Cattle are actually a major producer of methane gas and methane is a significant greenhouse gas. In fact, worldwide, livestock emits 37% of anthropogenic methane.” (Anthropegenic methane is methane produced by human activities, such as agriculture). And methane has 23 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. [Thus] “any cut in the methane emissions would be beneficial.”
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But we don’t know why – We don’t know why it happened before but it seems to be happening again: Huge quantities of methane below the Arctic seabed are showing signs of leaking out into the atmosphere, which would be the tipping point for climate change.
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Major cause of global warming – Infrared cameras have revealed major methane leaks in gas wells in eastern Texas. In the October 15th editions of the New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin and Clifford Krauss quote environmentalist Terry Gosney, who took the infrared photos, as saying, “Holy smoke, it’s blowing like mad. It does look nasty.” The same thing is going on with gas wells all over the world. Methane may cause as much as one-third of the human contribution to global warming. However, unlike carbon dioxide, which can remain in the atmosphere for 100 years, methane stays in the air for about 10 years, so capping these wells is a short-term solution, while we invest in longer-term fixes.
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The dangerous greenhouse gas methane is leaking, bubbling up from the bottoms of oceans and lakes around the world. Two places this is happening is in lakes in Washington State and Canada. Canadian researcher Rob Bowen says a tossed match would set the surface of these lakes on fire because “It’s essentially pure methane.”

Permafrost, which is frozen soil that covers one-fifth of the earth’s land surface, is also found from 160 to 200 feet under water. Plant and animal matter have accumulated in this frozen soil for thousands of years, and global warming could release it all at once.
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