methane

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SCOTUS Leaves 2 Environmental Regulations in Place

Industry groups, GOP-led states wanted to block rules on methane, mercury emissions

(Newser) - The Supreme Court left in place Friday two Biden administration environmental regulations aimed at reducing industry emissions of planet-warming methane and toxic mercury. The justices did not detail their reasoning in the orders, which came after a flurry of emergency applications to block the rules from industry groups and Republican-leaning...

In the Future, Cows May Take a Pill to Help the Climate
Scientists Attempting
to Rejigger Cow Stomachs
longform
Aug 26, 2024 9:19 AM CDT

Scientists Attempting to Rejigger Cow Stomachs

Washington Post reports on a gene-editing experiment designed to reduce methane emissions

(Newser) - "It's completely out of the box," University of California at Davis professor Ermias Kebreab tells the Washington Post . "Nobody has done it before." The reference is to an attempt to change the stomachs of cows through gene editing to make them belch less methane, a...

Danish Farmers Will Pay Tax on Their Gassy Cows

World-first carbon tax will begin in 2030

(Newser) - In a world first, Denmark will tax livestock farmers for the greenhouse gases emitted by their cows, sheep, and pigs beginning in 2030. The country is targeting the major source of methane emissions as part of an effort to reduce Danish greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by...

EPA Sets Fees to Cut Oil, Gas Industry Methane Emissions

The gas is responsible for one-third of global warming

(Newser) - With US gas and oil production at record highs, the Biden administration on Friday announced moves to counter the resulting release of methane gas. For the first time, oil and gas companies would have to pay a fee to the Environmental Protection Agency for emitting methane during production, the New ...

Food Waste Accounts for 58% of Methane in Landfills

More than 50 local officials are asking the EPA to help accelerate food scrap recycling

(Newser) - More than one-third of the food produced in the US is never eaten. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it generates tons of methane that hastens climate change. That's why more than 50 local officials signed onto a letter Tuesday calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to...

Sweden Moves Toward Fighting Methane With Seaweed

Agency will study effects of additives in cows' diets

(Newser) - Encouraged by early developments in the field, Sweden is stepping up its research into whether seaweed and other additives in cows' diets might cut methane emissions. The country's Environmental Protection Agency has received the government's go-ahead to study the possibilities of feed additives—including the seaweed red algae...

2 Gas Fields Produce 'Mind-Boggling' Methane Emissions

'Guardian' reports Turkmenistan is worst in the world for 'super emitting' fossil fuel leaks

(Newser) - Satellite data has revealed "mind-boggling" methane emissions from Turkmenistan's two main fossil fuel fields, which caused more global heating in 2022 than all of the carbon emissions in the UK. Data produced by geo-analytics company Kayrros at the request of the Guardian shows Turkmenistan's western fossil fuel...

UN Agency Warns of 'Ominous' Rise in Greenhouse Gases

Methane in atmosphere posts biggest climb in decades

(Newser) - The three main greenhouse gases hit record high levels in the atmosphere last year, the UN weather agency said Wednesday, calling it an "ominous" sign as war in Ukraine, rising costs of food and fuel, and other worries have elbowed in on longtime concerns about global warming in recent...

New Zealand Wants to Tax This Cow's Burps

Farmers are not on board with the plan

(Newser) - There are just 5 million people in New Zealand but some 10 million beef and dairy cattle and 26 million sheep. New Zealand's government on Tuesday proposed taxing the greenhouse gasses those farm animals make from burping and peeing as part of a plan to tackle climate change. The...

Satellite Spots Possibly One of Biggest Methane Leaks Ever

In Siberia, according to private company that tracks methane emissions

(Newser) - A private company that uses satellites to spot sources of methane emissions around the globe said Wednesday that it detected one of the largest artificial releases of the potent greenhouse gas ever seen, coming from a coal mine in Russia earlier this year. Montreal-based GHGSat said one of its satellites,...

Country Plans First Tax on Cow, Sheep Burps

New Zealand is including agriculture in emissions-trading scheme

(Newser) - New Zealand is looking into slapping a tax on one of the country's main sources of greenhouse-gas emissions: The livestock that outnumber human New Zealanders by more than seven to one. Agriculture accounts for around half the country's emissions, mainly methane produced by the burps of sheep and...

Research Adds to Case Against Gas Stoves

Scientists say potentially harmful emissions are worse than thought

(Newser) - Among environmental researchers and government regulators, it’s already common knowledge that gas appliances produce emissions that are potentially harmful to humans, including nitrogen oxides, toxic particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and even formaldehyde. That’s why furnaces and water heaters are required to be vented outside the building. Researchers are...

Steep Rise in Methane Is 'Extremely Disturbing'

Emissions jumped by record amount last year

(Newser) - Methane doesn't linger in the air for anywhere near as long as the more notorious greenhouse gas carbon dioxide—but it traps heat 25 times more efficiently, and scientists say the recent steep rise in methane emissions is very disturbing. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the concentration...

Evidence of Alien Life Might Emerge in a Cloud of Methane

The trick will be ruling out nonbiological explanations

(Newser) - Methane—a key ingredient in delightful things like swamp gas, flatulence, and fossil-fuel emissions —could also prove to be a key biosignature, i.e., evidence of extraterrestrial life. Thus, the gas is top-of-mind for scientists preparing to receive an influx of data from the James Webb Space Telescope. According...

US, China Agree to Work Together on Something

'We need to think big and be responsible,' Chinese envoy says at UN talks on climate change

(Newser) - The world’s top carbon polluters, China and the United States, agreed Wednesday to increase their cooperation and speed up action to rein in climate-damaging emissions, signaling a mutual effort on global warming at a time of tension over their other disputes. In back-to-back news conferences at UN climate talks...

Amid Lofty Goals, a More Earthly Snub
Amid Lofty Goals,
a More Earthly Snub
the rundown
Nov 2, 2021 10:05 AM CDT

Amid Lofty Goals, a More Earthly Snub

Israeli minister was shut out of climate meetings because forum wasn't wheelchair accessible

(Newser) - The world climate summit continues in Scotland, and the coverage of COP26 is wide-ranging. A sample:
  • Rejoining: The US has formally rejoined a group known as the High Ambition Coalition at the climate talks, reports the Guardian . The group, made up of developed and developing countries, will push for nations
...

EPA Cracking Down on Methane
EPA Cracking Down on Methane
Nov 2, 2021 3:08 AM CDT

EPA Cracking Down on Methane

EPA's 'historic action' will 'ensure robust and lasting cuts in pollution across the country'

(Newser) - The Biden administration is launching a wide-ranging plan to reduce methane emissions, targeting a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming and packs a stronger short-term punch than even carbon dioxide. The plan was being announced Tuesday as President Biden wraps up a two-day appearance at a United...

Ship Finds Scary Gas Bubbling From the Deep
Ship Finds Scary Gas
Bubbling From the Deep
scientific find
Nov 1, 2020 3:00 PM CST

Ship Finds Scary Gas Bubbling From the Deep

A scientific team finds methane off the coast of Siberia

(Newser) - Those are methane bubbles—and that's not good news. So said a group of international scientists after analyzing the Siberian coast along the Arctic Ocean, the Weather Channel reports. The 60-member team said the bubbles were mostly dissolving in water, but high methane levels at the surface suggest that...

'It Was Making Noises. It Was Like Something Alive'

Crater 17 is discovered in Siberia

(Newser) - "It was making noises. It was like something alive." And now there are at least 17 of them. Popular Mechanics reports journalists with Russian news agency Vesti Yamal in July observed a 164-foot-deep crater on the Yamal Peninsula, the 17th such crater to have been found in a...

Burger King Changes Diet of Its Cows

A little lemongrass could help combat climate change

(Newser) - Burger King is staging an intervention with its cows, per the AP . The chain has rebalanced the daily diet of some of the cows by adding 100 grams of lemongrass in a bid to limit bovine contributions to climate change. By tweaking the diet, Burger King said Tuesday that it...

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