CLIMATE activists are turning their attention to farming and saying that methane is 30 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, so far more dangerous to the planet.
Since the largest source of methane is cattle, sheep and pigs, they want the UK drastically to reduce livestock numbers despite the UK being responsible for only 1.13 per cent of total global emissions and Scotland 0.15 per cent.
Consider the worldwide methane-emitting animal position. There are 1.76million cattle in Scotland, 9.6million in the UK and 989million in the world. There are 44million sacred cows in India.
Sheep numbers are 6.9million in Scotland, 33million in the UK and 1billion in the world.
Pig numbers in Scotland are 330,000, in the UK 4.7million and in the world 900million. That is a lot of methane.
I suppose it is too dangerous for the climate zealots to mention that the 9.9million dogs and 10.9million cats in the UK also produce methane and that numbers could be reduced.
Let’s not even contemplate the methane emitted by the 7.8billion people on the planet today. Just think what the 9.8billion in 2050 will emit, and the 11billion the UN says will be around in 2100.
Climate activists should be encouraged to undertake a world tour to point out the climate dangers of farming and ask farmers to reduce the numbers of livestock. First they could visit India and suggest that the sacred cows do nothing but graze and produce methane and that their numbers could be reduced significantly to save the planet. How successful do you think they would be?