Читать книгу Climate Change For Dummies - Elizabeth May - Страница 54

Two-thirds of all the human-made methane comes from agriculture, and about half of that amount comes from rice crops. If you’ve ever seen rice being grown, you may remember that it’s planted in a flooded field. Any dead organic matter falls to the bottom of the paddy, which is a perfect airless environment for creating methane.

All cows, pigs, chickens, and other farm animals account for the rest. The food breaking down in their stomachs produces methane that they, shall we say, emit into the air — one way or another. All animals emit methane — yes, even you — but livestock’s methane causes a problem because there are so many of these fairly big animals.

Humans also add methane to the atmosphere through treating wastewater and from landfills — all that garbage spews methane into the air while it breaks down.

People also use methane as a fuel. Natural gas is 90 to 95 percent methane, and when natural gas is extracted from the ground, some methane escapes into the air.