On this final Monday of 2022, instead of asking you to make a phone call or send an email, I’d like you to join me in highlighting positive climate action around the world. The climate crisis can feel overwhelming, but good things are happening and it’s important to maintain hope for a livable future. So this week’s ask:
Share a climate victory in the comments. This can be something from your city or state, or news from another state or country. It can be a climate activist elected to office. If you don’t know of any specific climate victory, share a cool innovation you came across. Basically, I want to hype the endless possibilities for averting the worst effects of the climate crisis.
I’ll go first.
In November, 70% of Denver voters approved the WASTE NO MORE ballot initiative. This will require Denver area construction sites to properly dispose of all waste and materials. It also requires businesses (restaurants, hospitals, apartment buildings, hotels, sporting arenas, festivals, etc.) to provide compost and recycling services.
This is very important because per the USDA “Food loss and waste also exacerbates the climate change crisis with its significant greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. Production, transportation, and handling of food generate significant Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions and when food ends up in landfills, it generates methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas.”
Per CBS Colorado, data from the Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG) and Eco-Cycle show that despite businesses in Denver generating about 55 percent of the city’s municipal waste, they weren’t required to recycle or compost. And now they are!
That’s one piece of good news here in Colorado!
What’s your good climate news? Please share in the comments to help expand perspectives on what’s possible when people work together for positive change.
Tracy Abell 
Gaining control over cow burps! Methane is a greenhouse gas that adds to climate change by trapping heat in our atmosphere. This gas is produced from human activities but also by several natural processes, such as plants decaying and even from cows digesting their foods. That’s right…cow burps cause the release of methane into the air!
But what can humans do about this problem? Cows have to eat! Scientists in New Zealand have been working on ways to reduce methane by controlling cow burping. Their plan involves calves and using a probiotic named Kowbucha. The powder is mixed with liquid and fed to them along with their regular food. So far, researchers say the methane produced through burping is down by about 20 percent. They hope to sell the product in stores by 2024.
By 2025, New Zealand plans to fine the farmers whose animals give off too much methane. So they definitely want a product like Kowbucha to work. Similar products are being tested in other countries to provide lower methane emissions from cows. In order to not affect the milk produced, probiotics are the top choice because they are natural and good for cows.
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This is SO cool, Becky! This wasn’t on my radar and I thank you for sharing . I’d heard of cow flatulence causing methane but I just looked that up and it’s the belching, just as you wrote here. You’ve dispelled an urban myth! 🙂 And hooray for probiotics which are a wonderful thing!!!
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Happy you liked it, Tracy:) I was surprised, too, that the burping is actually more of an issue!
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