The Beef Industry and the Environment
Trash The Gas
This week we watched 2 Target 100 video clips about beef cattle, their effects on the environment and what Australian farmers are doing to become carbon neutral. The issues that were raised in the first clip were about reducing the methane, that cattle produce when they burp and how Australian farmers are working to save our planet and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are being released into the atmosphere. Did you know about 10% of the methane released into the environment are produced by cattle? Australia’s farmers are working hard to reduce these emissions from entering the atmosphere. They are doing this by experimenting and trialling different products to add to their livestock’s diet. They have added things such as algae and grape marc, as they are believed to help reduce methane from making it into the atmosphere. We learnt that “a by-product from wine making can reduce 9 livestock emissions.” The name of the special ingredient in the grape is Tannins. Scientists are also researching tea saponin extract and the monascus rub to “measure the effectiveness of these products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They say tea saponin extract could be the answer! Our Australian farmers are working very hard to reduce methane emissions. Selena Still, Year 7 |
Stopping Erosion
The
second film clip was about the sediments in the water and how eventually they
get out into the Great Barrier Reef and make the coral die. This caused by the
coral getting covered up and no sun getting it. To prevent this happening, On
one property in the clip they have fenced off the creeks so the cows don’t
pollute the water and so vegetation grows near the creeks/rivers so it stops
the erosion.
I based my Archibull cow design on the sediments getting into the river and killing the coral. The fence represented how to stop the sediments getting into the river and the cows represented that they are locked outside the fence. Luke Clifford, Year 8 |
Silent but violent
This week we learnt about cow farts and burbs and how they produce 10% of Australia’s greenhouse gases and how to protect the waterways and the Great Barrier Reef. The first video clip we viewed was about a person who explored the farts and burps of a cow. He found out that cows produce 8 to 10% of the greenhouse gases in Australia. I learnt that a cow burps more than it farts. The issues are being solved by scientists working with farmers to add algae to the cow’s diet to reduce the percentage of greenhouse gases. The greenhouse gasses are decreasing due to the algae in the cow’s diet. The second target 100 clip we watched was about farmers protecting the Great Barrier Reef and how to prevent the issue of sediment in our waterways. These problems are being solved by fencing the water sources off. The situation is getting better because the farmers are fencing the water holes off. I choose to do my Archibull design on the fencing off of the rivers and other water sources. The blue line through the top of the page is the river and the brown is the fence that is fencing the cows out of the river. The green is the fresh grass and the cows are releasing greenhouse gasses by burping. Connor Johnson, Year 8 |