Irish Scientists Aim to Knock Wind Out of Greenhouse Effect

As everyone knows by now, the various gases we release into the atmosphere each day are having a drastic effect on the environment. In fact, it’s getting to the point where we’ll soon have to stop breathing out carbon dioxide if we don’t want to be baked in our skins courtesy of the greenhouse effect. And that’s assuming we’re not deep-fried first by those darned CFCs knocking great big holes in the ozone layer. (So what’ll it be, folks? Baked potatoes or French fries?)

As it happens, I developed an interest in environmental issues long before anyone had even heard of the ‘hole in the ozone layer’ or the ‘greenhouse effect’. I was about ten years old at the time, and I created a ‘hole in the greenhouse’ effect with just one kick of a soccer ball. (It was a cracking shot, as I recall, swerving around the garden shed before surgically removing several panes of glass from the neighbour’s greenhouse.)

And as I cowered in my bedroom upstairs - while the bloke from next door went ballistic over his ruined tomatoes downstairs - I came to understand the extent to which sudden changes in the environment can negatively affect our everyday lives. (In that particular case, it negatively affected my pocket money for the following six weeks.)

Which is probably why a recent press report on greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland caught my eye. According to the report, livestock emissions of methane gas are among the biggest contributors to Irish greenhouse gases. And let’s be blunt here: what we’re talking about is flatulent cattle and sheep.

Now I appreciate that this is a subject which, in the wrong hands, could become an occasion of dubious jokes and juvenile sniggering. All I can promise is that I will do my best.

Besides, I’ve checked the Suite 101 guidelines again and I reckon that if I tread carefully - always a good policy in the vicinity of grazing cattle - I should just about avoid summary dismissal from the ranks of contributing editors.

And speaking of treading carefully, I’d imagine that’s what scientists from University College Dublin will endeavour to do as they undertake a major research programme aimed at reducing the estimated one million tonnes* of methane gas emitted each year by Irish cattle and sheep. (One million tonnes! What are they feeding those unfortunate animals? A diet of onion soup and baked beans?)

[*A tonne is 1000 kilograms – roughly equal to 1.1 tons]

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