Step1
It seems in our world today that Global Warming is the hot topic (no pun intended) on everyones list. From news anchors to celebrities, everyone's trying to get a piece of the global warming action. Actual at times I get a little tired of hearing about it. No matter what side you are on though, we all can agree that we need to take better care of our earth. But what about the cows?
The first time I read anything on this was about a month ago while going through my daily ritual of reading the top headlines on MSNBC. Usually anything involving funny bodily functions, such as farting, entertains me so I continued to read on. I couldn't believe my eyes as I thought to myself, "oh great, another scapegoat for environmentalists to blame the world's problems on." However, as I read further I was intrigued to learn that we really can blame it on the cows, or at least partially.
Step2
It turns out that just one cow, in one day, can put out enough methane gas to fill around 400 one liter bottles, (and you thought your husband was bad). Methane, for those of you who may be uninformed, is one of the leading causes of ozone depletion. How it works is that as the cow passes gas, the methane produced heads up to the ozone layer and adds to its ever expanding hole. So I guess you could say from hole to hole damage. Unfortunately, it's not just cows that are the problem. Pretty much all farm animals because of their diets emit large amounts of Methane, believed to be twenty times more harmful than carbon-dioxide to the environment. So what can we do?
First off, I will not suggest an all vegetarian diet and keeping only enough cows around for their cuteness factor. I'd only be causing the biggest crisis of my life, since I'm not sure what I would do without my weekly steak and potato. So who has come my rescue in the moral quandry? Kangaroos! Scientist have found that Kangaroos have a bacteria within their stomachs that neutralize methane before it's released in the air. Scientist are now working with cattle producers to transfer the kangaroo bacteria into the digestive tracks of their livestock to help reduce the amount of methane gas that is released into the environment. This of course has still created an uproar among some animal rights activist who feel the cow should be left in its natural state and not harmed by experimentation with bacteria, but it looks like for now my steak dinner is saved...well, for another decade at least.
Step3
So what about humans? Are we more to blame for global warming because of our excess lifestyles (cars, commercial emissions etc) emitting Carbon dioxide? Or, more to blame because we, like cows, pass gas? Well in comparison to cows we only pass about 1/2 a liter of gas per day. Which although ads up, is not to the same extent that cows do. Plus, what are we going to do about human gas? Hold a national meeting for ideas to decrease the human surplus population? I guess it's a good thing Ebenezer Scrooge is not our president...although he does share a slight resemblance to Hilary Clinton.
Likely Page Break
So what can we do as humans? Well, there are plenty of ways for us to help prevent the deletion of ozone from our atmosphere. Ways that do not include mass genocide of the cow, or Hillary Clinton. This is where going green comes in. Now, I'm not an over the top environmentalist, but I do believe that we need to take care of our earth. Simple things like recycling, watching the way we use energy in our homes (i.e. shutting off lights in rooms when your not there, buying energy efficient appliances), and driving less while walking more (when possible) can help in dramatic ways. There are so many simple things that we can do that will not drastically change the lifestyles that we are accustomed to, but will drastically change the depletion of our environment. So I'm starting a new Motto, say it with me now, "Save the Cows! Go Green!"
For more information on how to live a healthier lifestyle for our environment check out:
http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200704/tows_past_20070420_b.jhtml
Resources used:
CBBC Newsround
BBC News
Oprah.com
Enthusiast 
