Sunday Pick: How a special seaweed is lowering methane emissions—one cow burp at a time | from Speed & Scale
4/19/202627 min
Did you know that cows emit methane when they burp? Livestock account for over 12% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, but farmers and scientists have discovered a superfood that might be the key to lower emissions—and raise healthier cows. In this episode, Ryan and Anjali investigate the mystery of Asparagopsis, a seaweed variety that removes methane from the guts of the animals who eat it. The catch? There are only nine licensed growers in the world. Ryan and Anjali are joined by three experts to talk about the science behind this amazing plant, the benefits we’re already seeing from the animals who eat it, and the next steps for scaling up its use by farmers around the world.
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First 90 secondsElise Hu· Host0:00
[intro music] Happy Sunday, TED Talks Daily listeners. It's Elise Hu. As we often do on Sundays, today we're sharing a recent episode of another podcast from the TED Audio Collective, handpicked by us for you. This time, from our podcast Speed and Scale. Did you know that cows emit methane even when they burp? Livestock account for more than 12% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, but farmers and scientists have discovered a super food that might be the key to lowering emissions and raising healthier cows. In this episode, hosts Ryan Panchadsaram and Anjali Grover investigate the mystery of Asparagopsis, a seaweed variety that removes methane from the guts of the animals who eat it. The catch? There are only nine licensed growers in the world. Ryan and Anjali are joined by three experts to talk about the science behind this amazing plant, the benefits we're already seeing from animals who eat it, and the next steps for scaling up its use around the world. To hear more inspiring stories about the people accelerating solutions to the world's greatest climate challenges, listen to Speed and Scale wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about TED's podcasts at audiocollective.ted.com. Now on to the episode right after a quick break.
Unknown speaker1:19
[cows mooing]