• Question: Why are cows bad for the environment?

    Asked by grew021ace to Olga, Madhumidha, Connor, Canice, Aruna, Anthony on 6 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Anthony Newell

      Anthony Newell answered on 6 Mar 2020:

      Cows release methane when they belch. Methane is a greenhouse gas which traps 30 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Cows contribute more to global warming than cars each year. Raising animals for food overall accounts for about 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.

    • Photo: Aruna Chandrasekar

      Aruna Chandrasekar answered on 8 Mar 2020:

      Cows are big animals and hence release more methane than a human every time they belch or get flatulent. Each cow emits about 2.3 tons of CO2 per year. To put this in context, that is the amount of CO2 emitted by a car that could drive 12,300 km a year. Methane is 30 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. In addition, a certain amount of CO2 is trapped by plants, but methane has nowhere else to go.

      Excessing livestock rearing for milk and meat is a major cause for their contribution to global warming.

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