Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by glastra 2508 days ago
Yes, you are right. I have conveyed my point only half-way and I apologize.

What I meant is that methane is known to have a bigger heating effect than other greenhouse gases, like x28 that of CO2 if I recall correctly. This is used as part of the anti-ruminant argument, when comparing the effect of methane expelled by animals to the rest of greenhouse gas emissions.

However, if you take into account the reduced lifespan, that 28-time increase is definitely less relevant.

1 comments

From the WP article you linked:

> Methane in the Earth's atmosphere is a strong greenhouse gas with a global warming potential (GWP) 104 times greater than CO2 in a 20-year time frame; methane is not as persistent a gas as CO2 and tails off to about GWP of 28 for a 100-year time frame

And once you take positive feedbacks into account additional emissions can be problematic even within "short" timeframes.

Absolutely, I never said methane was without effect.

However, its effects on global warming are greatly exaggerated by environmentalists and/or those with vegan ideologies.

In my opinion, focus should definitely not be on meat consumption.

Anyway, as a disclaimer, I follow a carnivore diet consisting of only animal products. You can expect me to be heavily biased.