AP Report: Cows pollute more than autos

[question everything]

Report: Cows pollute more than autos

By Kathleen Hennessey
ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 2, 2005

SACRAMENTO – Air regulators yesterday said dairies are the No. 1 source of smog-producing pollution in the San Joaquin Valley, producing more than cars and light trucks.

In a much-disputed report released yesterday, the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District determined that one cow annually emits 19.3 pounds of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, the gases that contribute to smog. That's 50 percent more than thought.

At that rate, dairies in the San Joaquin Valley produce more than 50 tons of VOCs a day, exceeding the amount released by cars and light trucks in the region by nearly 20 tons a day, district officials said.

More..

Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050802/news_1n2cows.html

[KarenInMA]

1. Well. I'll stop riding my cow to work now,

and take the subway.

[Kraklen]

2. VOCs = volatile fatty acids?

No, I don't suspect cars release many volatile fatty acids.

Bullshit article.

[question everything]

11. No. Volatile Organic Compounds

Present in gasoline, of course

[Kraklen]

13. According to the story...

they're calling "volatile fatty acids" (whatever the fuck those are) the pollutants that are being released by cattle.

[Kolesar]

20. One of the VFAs is butyric acid

http://jeq.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/32/4/1173
excerpt: Intensive livestock operations can release odorous gases from stored or land-applied manure. We measured concentrations of dust and 14 odor-causing gases at increasing distances from four feedlots near Lethbridge, southern Alberta, Canada. Concentration was determined from the amount of total dust or gas accumulated in the samplers, and the volume of air sampled. Adjacent the feedlots, the maximum concentration of many volatile fatty acids exceeded reported odor detection thresholds; the maximum ammonia concentration was close to the threshold. Ammonia and butyric acid approached or exceeded their individual odor thresholds as far as 200 m downwind of the feedlots.

[Kraklen]

22. Yikes.

Butyric acid has a boiling point of 162 degress celsius. If that's volatile I'm a monkey's uncle.

[Kolesar]

16. Presumably, the volatile fatty acids are also smog-producing gasses

"Those VFAs make up 15.5 of the 19.3 pounds of pollutants blamed on the cow.
"

This article is too short to explain the smog producing process.

[Kraklen]

21. I understand how smog is formed.

What I don't understand is

1. Why they're calling fatty acids volatile (they aren't).

2. Why they're defining volatile organic compounds as volatile fatty acids (they're not).

3. Why they're defining pollutants as smog producing pollutants (they're lots of different kinds).

4. Why they're ignoring CO2 produced by cars, and not explaining that cars only are producing less smog producing pollutants specifically because of catalytic converters.

[Kolesar]

24. This sounds like a long-running struggle that is playing out

Those who wish to eliminated concentrated animal operations are trying to find justification for removing them or forcing them to adopt expensive remediation processes. The latter could drive them out of business, which would accomplish the first goal.

I am not a chemist. I cannot explain this.

[Kraklen]

25. It read more to me like...

letting car pollution off the hook. More global warming apologizing.

That's just how it came across to me.

[Kolesar]

27. I quit eating beef a decade ago because it was an environmental horror

Knowing the rate at which beef production consumes land, water, and energy, a bowl of oatmeal becomes much more appealing. And a lot cheaper!

[Zorra]

28. Yep. Me, too. Beef cattle are an environmental disaster. n/t

[don954]

3. beef, its not whats for dinner... ;)

at leat in my house.


Say 3 times fast:

How Now Mad Cow...

[stopbush]

5. Those are dairy cows here in the SJ Valley.

Tremendous amounts of cow farts emitted every day of the week.

Strange but true.

[don954]

9. hummm.... corks?

:evilgrin:

we need to start looking at some ways to sequester such gases, they can be used as fuel too if I understand right.

[Mojambo]

4. Good to know I can eat a burger AND fight global warming n/t

[arissa]

8. Actually it'd be the other way around...

by eating the burger you're supporting the industry that is polluting with your money.

Meat and dairy production is extremely harsh on the environment, in more ways than just air pollution. Hog farming is one of the leading causes of waterway pollution (from fecal/other animal waste dumping). The antibiotics, hormones and other chemicals used by massive meat/dairy farming industries to keep the animals alive in the intensive conditions ends up polluting our environment as well.

Boycott the meat/dairy industry - eat vegetarian - and you'll be fighting global warming, not the other way around. :)

[question everything]

17. Sounds OK except... I would hate to see more farmland being covered

with asphalt and being "developed" with more sprawl and exburbs families now clogging more roads and I would hate to see farmers, who are just making a living, switching to being greeters at Wal-Mart

Don't know what the answer is, really.

[TX-RAT]

30. Meat and dairy production is extremely harsh on the environment,

Please explain how my cattle ranching is harsh on the environment.


(Boycott the meat/dairy industry - eat vegetarian - and you'll be fighting global warming,)

So you would rather see all land plowed flat, than have it in it's natural condition?

[Mojambo]

31. Well, it was a joke, but thanks for the advice. n/t

[napi21]

6. Yea, I heard this somewhere this AM. They said these findings

would require farmers to receive polution notices from the EPA!

They didn't say what they were supposed to do about the cows!

[thoughtanarchist]

10. butt plugs?

:shrug:

[stopbush]

15. They're talking about housing the cows in enclosed structures

that would have air filtration systems installed to filter the pollutants. Currently, they are in structures with roofs but no sides...you can see them driving along 99.

I'm sure it would mean tremendous expense for dairy farmers, but they happen to be raking in the $ right now and are easy targets for the gov to foist the expense of upgrading totallt onto the farmers.

The SJ Valley produces 25% of the food that's eaten in the USA. Any expense incurred by the Valley's farmers will be passed along to consumers across the country.

Cow farts are no laughing matter (he said "matter").

[LeftyMom]

35. I'm all for keeping the stink in

It would be nice to drive down the 99 with the windows down.

Oh wait, I'd still have to deal with aroma coming off the chicken factories. :puke:

[karlrschneider]

7. But Saint Ronnie said trees are even worse!

:eyes:

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Huh?

Trees pollute? :crazy: He didn't really say that did he?

[redqueen]

18. "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do." Reagan '81

[Lisa]

34. as usual, Ronnie was only half-listening

You need VOCs AND nitrogen oxides to produce smog, in the presence of sunlight.

Vegetation does give off VOCs -- but that wasn't a problem until large numbers of cars showed up. As his fellow actor David Niven observed, air quality in the LA basin, back in the early days of Hollywood, was quite good. (LA also had a great public transit system.) And back then, VOC concentrations were arguably just as high. It was the NOx from vehicle exhaust that did it. Certainly on a localized basis, it's the pollutants from a given airshed that are the most influential ... and in most cases, the coniferous forests described in the article aren't in the same regions that are suffering the worst smog problems. Mexico City, New York, LA, and Toronto aren't known for their extensive woodlands.

[stopbush]

19. He did...and he may have been right.

At least if you're to believe this article from 2003:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030312.wtree312/BNStory/Front

[KarenInMA]

12. mmmm...cow.....

[Mr.Green93]

23. Next to pale males

cows are among the most destructive animals on earth.

[sysoprock]

26. Freeper bullshit is responsible for 98% of the air pollution in the valley

It comes from Fresno!

[Karmakaze]

29. Yep its a con...

The majority of VOC's emitted by cows according to the article are Volatile Fatty Acids. I had a look around on google, and what I found is quite interesting.

VFA's ARE a pollution concern - an ODOR polution concern - they smell bad. Otherwise I have found NO mention of these VFA's in any way connected to things like global warming.

If you take away the VFA's then the VOC's produced by cows are FAR less than by autos. So it seems by incuding "stinks" in the definition of pollution, autos look better in comparison to cows.

[Lisa]

32. lifecycle analysis ... at least cows are 100% recyclable

As of yet, no cars are.

[UTUSN]

33. LIMBOsevic Has Been Using This Methane/Fart Deal for Years

to argue against environmental/global warming/ "wackos" (us).