What Seaweed and Cow Burps Have to Do with Climate Change | Ermias Kebreab

What Seaweed and Cow Burps Have to Do with Climate Change | Ermias Kebreab | TED Countdown

Рет қаралды 33,908

2 жыл бұрын

Scientists have long known that cows are a huge source of the greenhouse gas methane, contributing up to four percent of emissions globally. But could there be a way to make cattle less -- ahem -- gassy? Animal scientist Ermias Kebreab talks through an ingenious solution to reduce methane-rich cow burps by feeding cattle something growing below the surface of the ocean: seaweed.
Countdown is TED's global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. The goal: to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, in the race to a zero-carbon world. Get involved at countdown.ted.com/sign-up
Learn more about #TEDCountdown:
Twitter: / tedcountdown
Instagram: / tedcountdown
Facebook: / ted
Website: countdown.ted.com
Watch the full 2021 TED Countdown Global livestream here: • [Replay] Watch the 202...
If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our mission of spreading ideas: ted.com/membership
For more from TED Countdown: • 2021 TED Countdown Global
Follow TED!
Twitter: / tedtalks
Instagram: / ted
Facebook: / ted
LinkedIn: / ted-conferences
TikTok: / tedtoks
The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world's leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design - plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.
Watch more: go.ted.com/ermiaskebreab
• What Seaweed and Cow B...
TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (or the CC BY - NC - ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (www.ted.com/about/our-organiz.... For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at media-requests.ted.com
#TEDCountdown #ErmiasKebreab

Пікірлер: 73

@Allthingsmarinelife 2 жыл бұрын

I can’t wait until I’m a marine biologist, I graduate college with my bachelors degree in a few months ! I hope to give a Ted talk one day on the wonderful things I will see in my career.

@calebcrawford3389 2 жыл бұрын

Good luck

@thomaskwan3251 2 жыл бұрын

Atleast if a golfball ever gets stuck in a whales blowhole you could save it just like George Castanza lol. Best of luck i know you can do it!

@nubiaalvarado7308 2 жыл бұрын

🙏🏼

@anirudhanirudh1419 2 жыл бұрын

All the best Mr future. Hoping you a good life and career

@greggary7217 2 жыл бұрын

I’ll reiterate - given all the problems NOT addressed by this talk or plan, I really want to know who funded this study. It matters. It feels very much like green washing.

@ermiaskebreab8761 2 жыл бұрын

Funded through philanthropy and federal government

@greggary7217 2 жыл бұрын

@@ermiaskebreab8761 thanks for that, you can understand I hope that specifics would be core to the purpose of the question, for example who in the govt & who’s the giver(s). Any links or refs wud be appreciated :-)

@familywilliams4058 2 жыл бұрын

@@greggary7217 I've seen a lot of research along these lines coming out of California universities as well. Unrelated studies that have had very similar results, so there hasn't been any issue with repeatability. I think one of my local universities has also worked on it with similar results as well.

@greggary7217 2 жыл бұрын

@@familywilliams4058 that’s helpful thank you

@ligiasommers 2 жыл бұрын

🙏🏻✨ happy to hear they are cultivating seaweed instead of just harvesting what could cause an even bigger problem

@reshanegi3268 2 жыл бұрын

It will help countries like India where small dairy farms are owned and it is their only source of livelihood. Milk alternative is not normal here.

@johnbee7729 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent news. Would like to see the results of other types of seaweeds and their impacts

@vicaraven916 2 жыл бұрын

Incredible! Hope this gets taken seriously; a true blessing.

@aicram.6912 Жыл бұрын

This video is really informative and is a new interesting topic to get to know about. Hope that the world gets better overtime with all the experiments going all around the world.

@nookandcorner5613 2 жыл бұрын

great work

@brittany4226 2 жыл бұрын

Why we always talking about cows, but never like.. airplanes

@BigBrainActivity Жыл бұрын

Amazing!! This is a *BIG* deal.

@debralynnpaxton5238 2 жыл бұрын

This is certainly a more plausible and acceptable scenario and solution/action plan than lab-grown-meat, or, forcing everyone to go Vegan. Thank you for presenting the results of your experiments.

@burger1113 2 жыл бұрын

Hmm hopefully they can do it right so the cultivation process and transportation\distribution of the seaweed is not going to cancel out the reduction in methane emissions...

@familywilliams4058 2 жыл бұрын

I am very interested in trying to combine seaweed and land based shellfish production together for this reason. I love shrimp, but they are very messy animals. If I can clean up their effluent by growing algae for dairy cows, then I can also feel much better about my love for milk and cheese too.

@ameerahamed3523 2 жыл бұрын

I hope one day government stand to do it

@danielkillorin9742 3 ай бұрын

This guy thinks he owns seaweed, I want in on this.

@d.j.2418 2 жыл бұрын

*the sphinx beats.

@kuahlinliang2726 2 жыл бұрын

Can this work on pig too?

@wendyofficial01 2 жыл бұрын

I love this research TEDTalk

@dailydoseofmedicinee 2 жыл бұрын

👏💭

@GRANDE695 2 жыл бұрын

now, i can't understand what he spoke. i am gonna hear this channel. i hope that i can understand what they spoke. (I'm sorry for i can't English well.)

@chailand0713 2 жыл бұрын

Cultivating seaweed will solve the climate change. It seems small change but it improve climate change in the long term. Thank you for sharing idea!

@kinpatu 2 жыл бұрын

This has very limited upside potential due to methane’s high turnover in the atmosphere. Better to support pasture raised cattle, which is a net carbon SINK when properly managed.

@greggary7217 2 жыл бұрын

I’ve seen conflicting opinions on carbon sink properties of grass-fed - if you have any refs to studies not funded by the cattle folks I’d be hugely interested in hanging them!

@familywilliams4058 2 жыл бұрын

High intensity grazing and reversed desertification anyone?

@yekmer 2 жыл бұрын

This is a good effort to help reducing carbon emissions. Though there are lots of problems with animal industry. Land usage, agricultural land usage to feed animals, chemical pollution from the way we raise animals and land, excess antibiotic usage, animal abuse etc. These kind of solutions are small fixes to a bigger problem. It will make people eat their burgers with more relaxed mindset. Because we humans first believe, then find arguments to fit into our believes. I know this because I do this all the time.

@Talibland 2 жыл бұрын

Hi I’m fateme from Afghanistan,I’m making videos about Taliban rules to inform people around the world about children rights here,also i make embroidery to survive because Taliban killed my family and I’m alone,I have one biological daughter and 6‌ adopted children that were homeless,if you like you can see some of my videos

@kamilakadirova5286 2 жыл бұрын

👌👏😉

@user-i184hdk6my9l 2 жыл бұрын

So far I just thought that stopping eating beef and becoming a vegetarian is the the only way individuals can do for the climate change. But now I got a wider view of action to solve this problem. Thank you a lot. It is very interesting, impressed, and I am going to share this video with my GHG lab colleagues tomorrow!

@greggary7217 2 жыл бұрын

Don’t forget that this doesn’t solve two other problems 1. The entire production sequence from crops ,feed and abattoir produces at least as much CO2 as the burps. 2. The water used to feed the huge crop needed to feed them, is literally decimating western aquifers & putting western US cities at legit risk of critical water shortages. At some point we are going to choose - beef & milk or water. Oh and there are /lots/ of other ways to help :-)

@user-i184hdk6my9l 2 жыл бұрын

@@greggary7217 Yeah you are right and thank you for sharing the opinion. This kind of conversation makes me keep in mind about climate change!

@greggary7217 2 жыл бұрын

Great news as far as it goes - now if we can just get cows & the crops it takes to grow their feed, from decimating western aquifers & placing the entire western US in legit danger of critical water shortages, long before the climate could kill us. Bit of a downer I know, but there it is As for plant based diets - I’m not even a vegan never mind WFPB but there is a growing population that are, and who get perfectly acceptable B12 & A from proper diet construction & where necessary, supplements. There is no reason that can’t happen almost anywhere. I also question the 4% emissions number - when the entire production chain is counted it is meaningfully higher, none of which is addressed by burp suppression. All in all I really want to know who funded these studies.

@familywilliams4058 2 жыл бұрын

Most of the western US grows food crops for humans (think of all the orchards), not cattle. that's mostly grown in Midwest "corn belt" though I agree that it needs addressed. I recently saw a very interesting business that was using hydroponics to grow wheat grass for dairy cattle year round. They used 90% less water and ran off of solar panels. The system was almost completely automated.

@greggary7217 2 жыл бұрын

@@familywilliams4058 I’m for any progress of course - I watched a documentary on water shortages in the west, it was pretty clear that growing feed was a significant problem for the western aquifers. I don’t recall specific numbers , I’ll watch again just to see

@raeaugustus586 2 жыл бұрын

What's next? Whats farting got to do with air pollut... Wait...

@gracielaortega6874 2 жыл бұрын

How about eating less meat?

@Greg3 2 жыл бұрын

If we dont eat them then they will fart more and then climate change, if you believe this bull.

@jameslang7722 2 жыл бұрын

Those pesky humans and their increasing of animal life and trees on the planet

@ethangilbert8131 Жыл бұрын

The problem is simple: there are too many cows. Feeding them seaweed is not the answer, reducing animal agriculture is. Why is it so hard for such smart people to say this?

@Noukz37 2 жыл бұрын

The best way to solve a problem is to address the cause, so you prevent it from happening. Cow digestive tracts have evolved to eat land grass, not sea grass. Of course they were burping methane because we were feeding them legumes and grain. And if seaweed is so amazing (which it is), why don't WE eat it directly then, and bypass the livestock completely? Because this speech is not about solving the issue, it's a greenwashing distraction.

@boatraft 2 жыл бұрын

He addresses this in his talk. And it's pretty unfair to call this thoughtful, well supported presentation "greenwashing".

@user-er9cb3hx5t 26 күн бұрын

In many countries (esp. in Asia) where legumes are part of people's diets, garlic when used as seasoning has a similar beneficial effect on humans (w.r.t. flatulence and burps).

@samschmit7181 2 жыл бұрын

-I don't think cows -_-can-_- burp.- (Edit: Never mind.)

@kathypiazza7228 2 жыл бұрын

Yes they do!

@ironmaiden5658 2 жыл бұрын

@@kathypiazza7228 An Aeroplane counteracts a cow burp by the millions.

@nubiaalvarado7308 2 жыл бұрын

I say any living thing with a stomach can definitely and probably should burp!

@samschmit7181 2 жыл бұрын

@@nubiaalvarado7308 Not all of them can, though. For example, horses' esophagi can only push in one direction: down. Ergo, if they ate/drank anything that would otherwise make them vomit, then they might most likely die.

@user-er9cb3hx5t 26 күн бұрын

@sam: when did you last go to a dairy farm?

@mikedelima1219 2 жыл бұрын

One can have a healthy and joyful life with a plant-base diet only. Seaweed it's not the Holy Grail. What about water consumption, deforestation, animal cruelty, and health problems? It's not only about methane. Reduce meat and dairy products consumption helps to solve many other problems as well, besides CO2 and methane.

@gzaos 2 жыл бұрын

plant base duet hmm talk about deforestation and water consumption...

@luciagrillo5480 2 жыл бұрын

Ok I have a better idea: why don’t we just stop eating animals

@donkeeefarms3795 2 жыл бұрын

This is bull.

@boatraft 2 жыл бұрын

No, this is seaweed FOR bulls.

@michaelaskarbova223 2 жыл бұрын

How about going vegan? No need for cows, no methane, no animal killing and suffering, no need for agricultural land producing crops to feed animals but feeding directly starving population - the best solution for people and their health, for planet and for the environment ❤️

@boatraft 2 жыл бұрын

He addresses this in the talk. Most people who can simply wont. And as for the people who can't, meat and dairy provide them with essential nutrients their diet would otherwise lack. But yeah, I agree that most well-developed populations would be better off consuming less meat.

@davidgeorge8325 Жыл бұрын

B12 comes from bacteria. There are vegan sources of B12. As far as the stunting figures… he conveniently used the data from a malnutrition study that had nothing to do with beef consumption. A total misrepresentation of data there.

@user-er9cb3hx5t 26 күн бұрын

Give up meat and milk? That is as unlikely as people giving up cars!