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this accusation deserves the merit it is currently of that from enteric fermentation by ruminants.”
receiving in the public arena. Perhaps if we re- Here we have a process as elegantly natural as the fermentation of
move the cow from the industrial context within forage in the rumen, a process that has occurred since time immemorial,
which the U.N. would like her to reside, and put probably on much vaster scales than today, being declared an environmental
her back into nature’s context—where she ought crime. Unfortunately, our society relies on these world police for the most

to be and where grass farmers have put her—she up-to-date scientific data. The fact is that these data have nothing to do with
will become our best ally for a future free of en- good science, but are instead science manipulated to support the industrial
vironmental devastation and an escalating health agenda to plant the earth with more GMO soybeans (see sidebar, page 22).

crisis. Such an agenda sends profits in the direction of the fossil fuel giants and
corporate farms.
THE WAR ON METHANE I would like to ask the U.N. scientists whether the vast herds of wild
The U.N. claims that “the livestock sector methane-generating ruminants are also guilty, or if the world’s wetlands,
is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas gurgling methane from their anaerobic decomposition processes on the order
emissions measured in CO equivalent, a higher of ten times that of cows, or our politically correct forest trees, now found
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share than transport. The sector emits 37 percent to emit huge amounts of methane through their leaves, are also charged
of anthropogenic methane (with 23 times the with crimes against the environment. If methane generation regardless of
global warming potential (GWP) of CO ) most its origin were the problem, the U.N. would be launching a campaign to
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METHANE AND MICROORGANISMS

Methane is a colorless, odorless gas widely distributed in nature. It is the main component of natural gas, and is highly
combustible. It is nontoxic if inhaled, but can produce suffocation if abundant enough to reduce the concentration of oxy-
gen in an enclosed space. Current scientific consensus deems methane a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming
potential of 25 over 100 years. According to Wikipedia, “This means that a methane emission will have 25 times the impact
on temperature of a carbon dioxide emission of the same mass over the following 100 years. Methane has a large effect
for a brief period (about 10 years), whereas carbon dioxide has a small effect for a long period (over 100 years). Because
of this difference in effect and time period, the global warming potential of methane over a 20 year time period is 72. The
Earth’s methane concentration has increased by about 150 percent since 1750, and it accounts for 20 percent of the total
radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gasses.”
Natural sources of methane occur in water-logged and submerged soil where organisms called methanogens exist
in anaerobic conditions. The methanogens use CO for energy and produce methane. Marshes, wetlands and peat bogs
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account for the greatest source of naturally produced methane, with unknown quantities locked in the soil of permafrost
and the ocean floor that may be released as world temperatures rise. Ruminants produce methane as a byproduct of their
digestive process, and termites also produce a surprising amount of methane via their digestive systems—a yearly amount
estimated to be twice that emitted by wetlznds and bogs.
Methane from human activities mainly accrues from losses occurring during oil, coal and gas extraction, waste treat-
ment, landfill sites, rice cultivation (which employs regular flooding of fields) and biomass burning.
Two other recently discovered and surprising sources of methane are manmade dams and. . . trees! Industry groups
have described dams as “climate-friendly” compared to coal-powered energy plants, but scientists have now discovered that
large manmade bodies of water emit methane as bacteria break down organic matter in the water. And findings reported
in the journal Nature indicate that a range of plants produce methane, even when oxygen is plentiful, and this source may
account for 10-30 percent of the world’s methane emissions. “We now have the spectre that new forests might increase
greenhouse warming through methane emissions rather than decrease it by sequestering carbon dioxide,” said David Lowe
of New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
Last year a methane-eating organism was discovered that lives in the high-temperature, high-acid conditions of geo-
thermal zones. The bacterium is a member of the family of methanotrophs, bacteria that use methane as their only source
of energy. Methanotrophs are normally found in abundance in soils where methane is naturally produced, such as oceans,
mud, marshes and other underground environments. Climate researchers worldwide are studying the newly discovered,
extra-hardy bacterium as it holds promise for reducing the amount of methane entering the atmosphere.
While it does seem that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are much higher than they have been historically, the long-term
trend for methane is unclear. Scientists tell us that atmospheric methane levels have doubled since the industrial revolution
but methane levels have stayed nearly flat for the past seven years, following a rise during the two previous decades.
Sources: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Methane; http://www.gns.cri.nz/news/release/20071122methane.html; http://
www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0612-07.htm; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4604332.stm; http://www.
cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/11/21/methane.html.
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