Methane | TableDebates

Image: Magnascan, Flame, Pixabay, Public Domain

Webinar recording: Methane and global warming in the 21st century

A recording of the webinar “Methane and global warming in the 21st century” by Bob Howarth of Cornell University is available here.

Image: Pete, The Cows…, Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

News: Mysteries of the moo-crobiome: Could tweaking cow gut bugs improve beef?

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have sequenced the genomes of 913 types of microbes found inside cows’ digestive systems, hoping to discover more about the types of enzymes that the microbes use to break down the food.

Photo: Erik Edgren, taro burger, Flickr, Creative Commons License 2.0 generic.

How Do Dietary Choices Influence the Energy-System Cost of Stabilizing the Climate?

In this paper, using three scenarios for food demand, the researchers model and highlight the indirect relationship between greenhouse gas (GHG) emission abatement within the food supply system and the energy system, globally.

Photo credit: Micolo J, Flickr, Creative Commons License

The growing role of methane (and agriculture) in anthropogenic climate change

This editorial piece in Environmental Research Letters highlights the fact that, as opposed to CO2 emissions, those of the powerful greenhouse gas methane are currently rising faster than at any point in the last twenty years. Around two-thirds of global emissions of methane are attributable to anthropogenic activities, with agriculture and related land use change identified as a main culprit.

Photo credit: Sam Beebe, Cows n Canoe, Flickr, Creative Commons licence 2.0

Feeding cows seaweed could slash global greenhouse gas emissions, researchers say

A chance discovery was made in Canada 11 years ago, when it was observed that cattle in a paddock near the sea are more productive. This led to research showing that feeding cows seaweed not only helped improve their health and growth, but also reduced their enteric methane emissions by about 20%.

Photo: South African Tourism, Northern Cape, Flickr, Creative Commons License 2.0

Climate-smart soils

Recent assessments have strongly suggested that meeting the widely agreed target of limiting global warming to less than 2°C will require the deployment of substantial carbon sinks in addition to measures to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This perspective article examines the latest research and thinking on the ability of agricultural soil management to reduce GHG emissions and promote soils as carbon sinks, and the practical feasibility of implementing available soil management practices

Foodsource

Focus: the difficult livestock issue

A central topic of most debates on sustainable food systems is the complex role of livestock, meat and dairy. This is due to their connection to many issues of moral and practical concern related to food systems; affecting both humans and the environment, and animal's own interests. The picture is complex. And because different stakeholders bring different worldviews and perspectives, people often disagree about the appropriate role of livestock, meat, and dairy, in sustainable food systems. Yet demand for meat and dairy consumption is expected to grow considerably, and as a result, debates around livestock-related issues are becoming increasingly prominent. Understanding these helps to provide a broader understanding of food systems more generally.

(Photo credit: Gilles San Martin, Creative commons licence, Flickr)

Reducing non-CO2 emissions from agriculture to meet the 2°C target

119 countries pledged to reduce their GHG emissions in the 2015 Paris Agreement but exactly how much mitigation is needed by each sector to meet the 2-degree global target still largely unknown. This paper by Wollenberg et al., provides an estimate of how much GHG mitigation should be expected of the agricultural sector; compares this with what current plausible mitigation options could deliver – and finds a major discrepancy between the two.

The terrestrial biosphere as a net source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere

This study is the first to look at the net balance of the three major (biogenic, non-fossil fuel) greenhouse gases; carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide - for every region of earth's land masses. It analyses emissions from land use and land use change and uptakes from land and forests and concludes that the terrestrial biosphere (land and forests) is a net emitter of these greenhouse gases.