A Sprinkle of Seaweed Could Deflate Gassy Cows says in sheep, 2% of the food being the right seaweed gets rid of 70% of the methane. The seaweed isn't going to be the majority of the cows' diet.
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Beef; I'll miss you most of all....
- Thread starter nwdiver
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SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
If this is so simple, why not just synthesize the bromoform, or I presume any one of many chemicals that can inhibit the enzyme ? This will be an interesting story to follow, but nature is not in the habit of evolving metabolic machinery just for the hell of it.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
The most obvious would be dead cows from starvation.
Cellulose is a polysaccharide formed from beta 1,4 bonds between glucose residues
Breakdown of cellulose in ruminants is from methanogenic anaerobic bateria that then metabolize the glucose released to volatile FFA and propionate, butyrate, methane and lactate. The FFA are the main fuel absorbed by the cow.
I am not familiar with the specific metabolic pathways that these bacteria use to metabolize glucose, so I don't know if methane is an intermediate/downstream product of the metabolic pathway or one of several possible fermentation products. Phrased in English, I don't know if preventing methane production clogs up the metabolic pipe or simply leads to other terminal products than can be handled successfully.
When it comes down to it, my knowledge of glucose oxidation chemistry in anaerobic bacteria is sorely limited without doing some homework, but I will say that blocking or deleting a well evolved (read: conserved) enzymatic step is not a typical recipe for a healthy host.
The other issue is we are actually discussing a very complex environment between ruminant, plants eaten, and the anerobic ecology. Who knows what happens away from PEI, with other ruminants, other diets, and a veritable infinite bacterial ecology.
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Right. Well, I guess we need to expand our public education system. I mean, talk about elementary!
/s
mspohr
Well-Known Member
Reminds me of the old saying. "It's not nice to fool mother nature.
Of course, even if this is successful, we're still left with the fact that beef is full of saturated fat which clogs up your arteries.
Not as bad as the 'Free Energy' fiasco a few years ago but it still felt like PBS fell for the 'false equivalency' trap. Miles O'Brien was probably on break. They should wait until he gets back to run science segments...
Loved the part about how Cattle are 'magic' because they can turn sunlight into human food (via grass)... IIRC there's another way to do that without a cow....
Loved the part about how Cattle are 'magic' because they can turn sunlight into human food (via grass)... IIRC there's another way to do that without a cow....
beeeerock
Active Member
Not entirely beef-related, but I found it interesting. Would love to know if it's the complete story, or carefully curated. Certainly the ecosystem comments are compelling and essentially... logical.
How I fell in love with a fish
How I fell in love with a fish
SpiceWare
Member
While I don't foresee completely eliminating beef, I have cut back and use things like gardein's meatballs or Beyond Meat's Beefy Crumble* when I make spaghetti, sloppy joes, etc.
Our company Christmas Party was lunch at Hopdoddy followed by Star Wars. Hopdoddy is one of the few places in Houston that has the Impossible Burger so I decided to try it. I was not impressed, it was very mushy.
* I see I'll have to be on the lookout for their new Italian Sausage.
Our company Christmas Party was lunch at Hopdoddy followed by Star Wars. Hopdoddy is one of the few places in Houston that has the Impossible Burger so I decided to try it. I was not impressed, it was very mushy.
* I see I'll have to be on the lookout for their new Italian Sausage.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Me too. I'm a serious beef lover, but now pretty much the only time I eat beef is when we go out, and then not always, so now reduced to only a couple of times a month. The amount of land, and thus energy, used for feed growing for Beef production is horrific ... lots of changes like this, many of them involving lifestyle changes, that lie ahead ... I never used to plan for a long journey, I just stopped off for fuel when the gauge was showing "Low", but I seem to have mastered that change!
mspohr
Well-Known Member
Interesting video. Fish is healthy but finding sustainable fish is hard. This looks like one solution. Also, a very entertaining speaker.
Merrill
Merrill
My theory is that at my stage in life I’m going to do what I want to do and if I die a few years earlier at least I have enjoyed what I had left. Everything in moderation is my motto.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
There is a flaw in that logic. Unhealthy eating leads to chronic degenerative diseases which will make it difficult to enjoy your remaining years.
Merrill
Merrill
Yes, I guess what I was saying is that if I want some beef once and a while I’m going to have it.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
mspohr
Well-Known Member
I stopped eating meat and dairy a few years ago. Don't miss it at all. In fact, the thought of eating dead animals is somewhat disgusting. Much healthier for me and the environment.Damn...
mspohr
Well-Known Member
'We've bred them to their limit': death rates surge for female pigs in the US
'We've bred them to their limit': death rates surge for female pigs in the US
Industrial pig farming has certain side effects. 97% raised in gestation crates. Can't stand or move.
'We've bred them to their limit': death rates surge for female pigs in the US
Industrial pig farming has certain side effects. 97% raised in gestation crates. Can't stand or move.
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
I'm all on board with reducing fossil fuel use to a bare minimum and having strong environmental protections. I think that's the easy stuff. Meat is the bigger problem to solve. We need to know how much we can reasonably consume as a society without excessive negative impacts (negative impacts being not just environmental but treatment of animals as well). I don't think we know nearly enough yet.
I just don't think you can convince society to give up meat. It won't happen. Not anytime in the near future anyway. I certainly don't want to give up eating tacos, and those require ground beef and cheese.
At the same time there's a lot of anecdotal reports of vegetarians having health problems after awhile. I've got my own anecdotal stories about people I know. Too many anecdotal stories and it won't be anecdotal anymore. It really...shall I say...feels like...a lot of vegetarians are not getting the right mix of nutrients the human body needs. I'm not trying to be anti-veg here, I really wonder if there is a problem.
Still waiting on a beef substitute. There's a few options now, but they are like the i-MiEV of electric cars. We need a Tesla.
I just don't think you can convince society to give up meat. It won't happen. Not anytime in the near future anyway. I certainly don't want to give up eating tacos, and those require ground beef and cheese.
At the same time there's a lot of anecdotal reports of vegetarians having health problems after awhile. I've got my own anecdotal stories about people I know. Too many anecdotal stories and it won't be anecdotal anymore. It really...shall I say...feels like...a lot of vegetarians are not getting the right mix of nutrients the human body needs. I'm not trying to be anti-veg here, I really wonder if there is a problem.
Still waiting on a beef substitute. There's a few options now, but they are like the i-MiEV of electric cars. We need a Tesla.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
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