Cows, Rats, and Climate Change

Seaweed cuts cow emissions, urban rats are thriving, and climate videos for kids

GOOD NEWS

Each year, an individual cow belches out between 154 to 264 pounds of methane—a powerful heat-trapping gas 27 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Collectively, cattle are the largest agricultural source of heat-trapping gases, and that's definitely bad news.

Fortunately, researchers are finding creative ways to curb methane emissions from cows, and some of the solutions may surprise you! For example, feeding dairy cows a small seaweed supplement can reduce the amount of methane they emit by 80%. Another study found that adding seaweed pellets to grazing beef cattle diets cut methane output by 40%.

Methane is a product of incomplete digestion in cows and humans alike – so it makes sense that probiotics have also been shown to reduce methane production. One North Carolina startup, Hoofprint Biome, is developing a yeast and enzyme supplement to improve cows’ digestion while reducing methane. Meanwhile, researchers at the UK’s Pirbright Institute are working to develop a single-dose vaccine that could cut emissions by 30% long term.

While these innovations are exciting, the fastest and easiest way to cut methane emissions– as well as reduce water use and protect biodiversity – is simply to eat less beef. This is especially true for cheap beef (yes, looking at those fast food hamburgers and discount supermarket steaks), some of which have been tracked directly to illegally-deforested land in the Amazon.

And here’s another surprising fact: in the U.S., half of all the beef is consumed by just 12% of the population, mostly men; and although this study was for the U.S., I wouldn’t be surprised to see similar statistics for other high-income countries. That means small shifts—in what we buy and eat, as well as when we make change contagious by talking about it—can add up to a big impact!

NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS

You know who thrives in a warming world? Urban rats, that’s who. A study examining public complaint and inspection data from 16 cities around the world found that in 11 of those cities – including in Amsterdam, New York, Toronto, and Washington, D.C. – rat populations were increasing with temperature.

Warmer winter temperatures allow rats to increase their activity during the cooler months, which lets more of them survive, spend more time aboveground, and have more babies. Warmer temperatures mean “longer reproductive windows and higher fecundity” for rats. Rats also carry diseases including leptospirosis, hantavirus, typhus, and bubonic plague, and a larger rat population gives them more opportunities to spread these diseases.

Rats currently cause some $27 billion in economic harm to the U.S. each year by damaging crops, infrastructure, and soiling food, according to National Geographic. So, as cities plan for a warmer world, they also need a plan (and a budget) for dealing with larger rodent populations.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

If you know a kid, chances are they’re worried about climate change. So, this week, I invite you to check out a warm and engaging new YouTube series called Climate Kids.

The series features Linden Ashcroft, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, reporting from the future, where the problem of climate change has been solved. Linden and Lily O’Neill, a legal researcher with Melbourne Climate Futures, also answer questions kids submitted, asking why winters are getting less snowy, why we’re still digging up fossil fuels, what will happen as the sea level rises, and what are we doing to fix climate change.

Lastly and most importantly, the videos also include plenty of concrete actions kids can take to help. “Research shows that taking action, particularly in nature, is the best way to combat climate anxiety, and that when kids demand climate action, their parents listen to them,” the hosts wrote in The New Daily, an Australian newspaper.

Tues., April 1st at 5:30pm ET - Ignatius Lecture at American University - in person in Washington, DC. More details to come, free

Thurs., April 3rd at 5pm ET - Faith & Waters Restoration Forum with Oakland Mills Interfaith and Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake - in person in Columbia, MD, free

Weds., April 30th at 8pm ET - Don’t Say Climate? Bridging Divides with Katharine Hayhoe a fundraiser for the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America - virtual, $35