https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/business/cow-methane-climate-change.html
As we've discussed in class, methane emissions are largely from livestock. I found this article really helful to grasp just how much methane is emitted, and the environmental factos that contribute to the emissions. I'm also really impressed with a new technology that is aimed at reducing methane from cow's burps. The new technology is called "Mootral"; "Mootral" is a product that is aimed at reducing the amount of wasted energy that cows release in the form of methane. They discovered that the micorbial effects of garlic, from the allicin in garlic, was able to interact with the enzyme in the cow's stomach that creates methane.
Although this is a great discovery, scientists have had a difficult time emitting the correct amount of allicin. They have found that too much allicin can have negative effects on the cattle, but too little has almost no impact on methane levels. This technology is so new that farmers are recording an abundance of scientific discoveries. Some dairy farmers have even reported an increase in milk production; they suspect that this is due to the cows having more energy to spend on milk production from saving it on methane emission.
I thought this article was a great example of how scientists are working towards climate change, specifically to reduce emissions in agriculture. As a class that has showed a large interest in learning about sustainable agriculture, I thought this article deserved some attention!