• Question: if all cows are 'gone' will that help with pollution??

    Asked by crisps110 to Dean, Jess, Luisa, Sian on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sian Foch-Gatrell

      Sian Foch-Gatrell answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Yes, but no where near enough

    • Photo: Luisa Ostertag

      Luisa Ostertag answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Yes, definitely. A cow produces so much methane in a day that the greenhouse effect caused by this is comparable to the one of a small car! Most of the methane is released by burping (95%) rather than farting (only 5%).

    • Photo: Jessica Housden

      Jessica Housden answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      It will, as they do produce a lot of methane, which is a greenhouse gas. The other problem with mass cow farming is where forests are being destroyed to provide land for the farms – so a double whammy for the atmosphere.
      However; methane comes from many places, such as volcanoes, so cows (and other animals) only play a part of the methane production.

    • Photo: Dean Whittaker

      Dean Whittaker answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Methane is a big greenhouse gas. Cows also take up a lot of room so you can’t grow trees on the land. So it’s a double whammy for the environment – which means it probably would help! Though I’m not sure how much in the grand scheme of things they contribute.

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