Madam, – I write in response to the latest hysteria about emissions from cattle (“‘Cow tax’ may be introduced to reduce emissions”, The Irish Times, March 9th).
Cows eat grass, breaking down the tough molecules into useful edible components. Digestion gases are passed out of both ends of the animal. These gases contain carbon dioxide and methane, classic “greenhouse gasses”, so cows get blamed for contributing to global warming.
Let’s take a closer look, without equivocation.
Grass is made from greenhouse gas – carbon dioxide and water.Cows eat the grass, convert some of it into milk and some into body growth, to be sequestered until the animal is eventually slaughtered. Only the remainder is returned to the atmosphere. The net outcome is that cows sustainably reduce greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
Two main counter-arguments are proposed. One is that there is substantial use of fossil fuels in the raising of livestock – fertiliser, transport, etc. But that charge can be levelled at every agricultural enterprise – vegetables, cereals, chickens, etc. We could save the planet if we were willing to give up agriculture and stop eating.
The other charge is that “cow-gas” contains methane. Some claim that this is worse than carbon dioxide. In any case, let us join up our thinking. What would happen if there were no cows? Grass is a perennial plant. At the end of the season it dies off, falls down and is subsumed into the soil. Here soil bacteria digest it and produce, as by-products, carbon dioxide and methane – greenhouse gases. We could save the planet if we converted our fields and gardens into deserts. – Yours, etc,