The Day Farts Stopped Being Funny

I’m kidding, farts will always be funny.  The gas produced by cow, swine, and livestock, however, is no laughing matter.  

Methane is a natural byproduct of digestion, it is created by bacteria in the digestive tract and it escapes through burps and farts.  Cows are especially burpy animals and their burps account for 90-95 percent of the methane they release. How much can animal gas possibly matter?  A lot. In 2011 cows, swine, and other livestock burped and farted an estimated 119 million tons of methane gas. People are eating less red meat these days but our animals are bigger than ever which causes them to eat more, and produce more gas. Interestingly, methane is not what makes farts smell, it’s the sulfur that causes the smell. That isn’t true for me of course, because I don’t fart. Ever.

Even the manure emits methane.  It is common practice to store manure in a pit but that causes twice the amount of methane production than just spreading it on a field.  Putting manure in a pit encourages bacteria and methane production.

Carbon dioxide is often blamed for being bad for the environment but methane is 85 percent more powerful.  Methane contributes to the greenhouse effect which heats the Earth and causes global warming. Livestock is responsible for about 1/5 of all methane production.  Other contributors are the oil and coal industry, wetlands, oceans, and plastic that is heated by sunlight or exposed to saltwater. Methane is produced by landfills and it is converted into energy.  

Maybe it’s time to cut back on our meat consumption and start getting serious about all of the plastic we are putting in the ocean.  Don’t worry, there will still be plenty of farts to laugh about.