GlobalWarmingHotSpot.com

Human impact on ecosystems and methane is quite an eye-opener, at least for me.

Sources include:

1) Landfills. Landfills are the biggest human-related source of methane in the U.S., in reality 34% of all methane emissions! Methane is produced in landfills and open dumps while waste decomposes under anaerobic (no oxygen) conditions. The volume produced depends on the quantity and moisture content of the waste and the design and management practices at the site. This should help us to understand why we need to reduce our garbage in all regards, use a garburator, compost, recycle and reuse.

2) Natural gas, petroleum systems and coal mining. I don’t want to beat this one to death. If you need more or want more info for this, check out this US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) article.

3) Livestock. Many humans love their beef and dairy products. This human impact on ecosystems comes not more-so from the flatulence of a cow, rather it’s “belch”. One cow can emit as much as 600 litres of methane in a 24 hr period. With nearly 1.3 billion cattle on earth, the amount of methane emitted is staggering. That works out to about…

300,000 billion litres every year! Holy Cow! A new insight for the definition of greenhouse gas!! Yes, methane is less significant than carbon dioxide in the global warming picture, but this must be taken into account since cows are highly concentrated in specific areas of the world.

4) Rice Cultivation. That pretty much speaks for itself. However, methane is produced during flooded rice cultivation and the decomposition of organic matter in the soil. Flooded soils are prime environments for methane production. These soils have high levels of organic substrates, oxygen-depleted conditions, and moisture - the perfect combination. Levels will vary due to climate, soil and production practices. Cultivators are looking at ways for reducing methane emissions.

So there we have a few days overview on many of the ways that the human impact on ecosystems needs addressing, thought and action. Some changes are obvious and we can take ownership of them right away =) For now, I’ll save the gory details on changes to individual ecosystems simply because I can’t stomach it right now. I think I’ll go eat some salad.

Peace.