For years, Republicans have brought up farts to mock the concept of global warming. (For instance, this year in Congress, in response to testimony by four climatologists, Dana Rohrabacker of Orange County claimed that "Global warming could be the result of dinosaur flatulence.")
Now at last, Brian Beutler goes to the EPA statistics to weigh the comparative contribution. The stats on the post are a little hard to read, but:
For CO2, mostly from fossil fuels: 6,089,990 Gg,
(up from a little over 5,000,000 in l990)
For "entertic fermentation,: or cowfarts: 5,340 Gg
(down from 5,540 Gg in l990)
It’s not a one-to-one correspondence–raw methane-like emissions contribute more to the greenhouse gas effect in the short term–but nonetheless, we can with total confidence say: enough with the b.s.! Compared to the burning of fossil fuels, cow farts are trivial!
And if you don’t believe me, take it from this guy. Or else.
Kit Stolz 