The last time I wrote about cow farts, it was a warning that the Environmental Protection Agency was likely to use methane emissions as an excuse to target our livestock herds in the globalist War on Meat.
Of course, I am frequently covering the topic of vaccines.
Today, I have a chance to blend two of my favorite topics into one post. A start-up company has raised over $26 million to produce a vaccine to reduce methane emissions from cattle.
ArkeaBio’s vaccine will provide an innovative, cost-effective, and scalable solution to reduce the world’s livestock methane emissions, which currently generate the equivalent of 3 Billion Tonnes of CO2 annually and represent 6% of annual Greenhouse gas emissions. “Reducing methane emissions from the agricultural sector is one of the most pressing challenges in today’s fight against climate change,” said Chris Rivest, Chairman of the Board at ArkeaBio and partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures.“ArkeaBio’s approach using innovative vaccine technologies will create effective and massively scalable solutions to reduce on-farm methane emissions, leaving them well-positioned to redefine the agricultural landscape in the years to come.”
One of the firms investing is Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which was founded by Bill Gates in 2015. It pitched in $12 million.
Arkea Bio has raised $12 million in seed financing from Breakthrough Energy Ventures to develop a vaccine that will reduce methane released by cattle, which accounts for about 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The company says a methane vaccine could be integrated into existing farming practices. Separately, DSM has started construction on a facility in Scotland that will produce 3-nitrooxypropanol, a methane-reducing feed additive for cattle.
You would think that in the face of the staggering failure of the covid vaccine, scientists and researchers would be more circumspect. I guess the urge to solve a problem that really isn’t a problem, while enjoying moral righteousness of being a climate cultist, is too compelling.
I am going to take a few moments to review biology and geology, underscoring the complete folly behind this venture. To begin with, before the Great Plains slaughter of buffalo, our continent had vast herds of cattle generating methane. Yet, the climate was still quite habitable all around the globe.
Methane production is inherent in how cattle digest the grass they eat, building up fat and muscle mass for us to enjoy as steaks and burgers.
Methane is produced by archaea that make up a small proportion (up to 4%) of microbial biomass in the rumen. As the largest of the cow’s 4 stomach compartments, the rumen makes up 12-15% of the animal’s body mass and houses an anaerobic community comprised of diverse bacteria, protists and fungi. These microbes degrade and ferment lignocellulosic roughage that the animal cannot digest.Major microbial fermentation products consist of short-chain fatty acids, which are absorbed by the animal, as well as CO2 and H2, which are converted by methanogens to CH4 waste gas. Some undigested material is regurgitated into the buccal cavity, or mouth, where the cud is chewed and swallowed again. Other undigested material passes into the abomasum, where mammalian digestive processes take over before entering the lower intestinal tract.
Tampering with a digestive process that has been refined over millions of years of evolution seems unwise.
Next, let’s look at the current concentration of methane in the atmosphere. Interestingly, the value is presented in parts per billion.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (around 1750) the methane concentration in the atmosphere has increased by about 160%, and this increase is almost entirely caused by human activities. Since 1750 methane has contributed 3% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in terms of mass but is responsible for approximately 23% of radiative or climate forcing. By 2019, global methane concentrations had risen from 722 parts per billion (ppb) in pre-industrial times to 1866 ppb. This is an increase by a factor of 2.6 and the highest value in at least 800,000 years.
Let’s math a little bit. 1866 ppb = 1.866 part per million = 0.0001866%.
Granted, methane is a potent greenhouse gas. However, I argue 0.0001866% is not contributing to global warming to any significant degree…like our Sun is.
However, ginning up concern about methane is one way for eco-activists to impose even more burdensome regulations on dairy farmers and ranchers, while forcing the rest of us to less nutritious “protein alternatives”.
Let’s look at what happened 800,000 years ago, when methane was “at the highest value”. Life seemed to be pretty good.
The last time there was so much carbon in the atmosphere, these early humans were surrounded by spectacular megafauna.”Deer, bison, mammoth, hippo and rhino grazed the river valley, surrounded by more dense coniferous forest,” Science News notes. “The estuary provided a rich array of resources for the early humans with edible plant tubers, seaweed and shellfish nearby, while the grazing herds would have provided meat through hunting or scavenging.”
The last time time methane proved to be a problem for life on this planet may have been over 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period (just before the age of dinosaurs). One theory goes that an upwelling of magma in the area that is now Siberia incinerated the coal deposits there. It was the largest continental volcanic event in Earth’s history.
The volcanoes spewed so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere the planet warmed by between 45 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now that, my dear Legal Insurrection reader, is a true climate crisis.
Methane hydrate, formed in the ocean where methane is hit with the enormous pressures under the seas, is thought to have contributed to this substantial warming. As the waters warmed from the continued volcanic action of the Siberian Traps, there were 2 pulses of methane released as the methane hydrate warmed.
Global warming triggered by the massive release of carbon dioxide may be catastrophic, but the release of methane from hydrate may be apocalyptic.
As far as I am concerned, any global climate research focusing on trace gases is a complete waste of money. The Sun, volcanoes, and asteroid impacts are the entities that truly influence climate on a devastating scale.
It is clear our “regulators” will not hesitate to use “subject matter experts” to promote pseudoscience and implement policies that fit their narrative, lining their pockets while enhancing their power. Therefore, I wanted to make sure everyone had a good look at realities of methane and its true effect on the environment.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY