Rural Air Polution Solved?

Sometimes I wonder if the global warming activists use cow methane merely as a means to make states like Wyoming (with human populations of less than 1 million) feel guilty. Now they’ve gone so far as to develop a pill that can keep the methane emissions contained withing the cow:

 Methane emissions from cattle are responsible for four percent of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and any reduction would be a major contribution to reducing global warming.

Scientists at the University of Hohenheim in Germany say they have now tested a pill which in combination with a special diet and strict feeding times should make cattle less harmful to the climate.

And of course we all know that there are more cows in Wyoming than people, so Wyoming must be huge contributer to the global warming process. We just hide it because we have really strong winds that blow the source (cow methane) to our eastern neighbors. Anyway, this pill is also healthy for the cow:

The pill, which is still being tested, breaks down the methane in the cows’ stomachs, and also has health benefits for the cattle.

Winfried Drocher, head of the faculty for animal nutrition at the university, said: “It will make this energy available for the cows’ metabolism. The cattle can use the methane to produce glucose instead of just passing it out and it will enable them to produce more milk.”

I wonder if milk that is made from the cows that are on the pill is going to have a special label that would give you X carbon-offset credits for purchasing milk from said cows.

But let’s not get to worried about this new medication coming to your local vet. There’s one small, er, big problem with the pill:

The only problem at the moment is that the pill is about the size of a fist, which is hard to persuade the cows to swallow.

“It needs to be this big as it dissolves slowly, releasing active ingredients over several months. Our aim is to increase the well-being of the cows and to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases,” said Drocher.

Nice to know that they are concerned about the cows’ well-being. This could turn into the next polar-bear drowning in the seas hype.