Peter Hynes brimmed with impatience last winter as he mixed an off-white powder the consistency of flour into the feed for some of his cows.
The 47-year-old dairy farmer in southwest Ireland, who milks 180 cows alongside his wife and three daughters, has long been aware of his vocation’s sizable climate impact. The unique digestive systems of cows, which allow them to turn grass and other vegetation into milk, cheese and beef, also produce large quantities of methane-filled burps. These belches from cattle contribute more than 4% of the planet’s heat-trapping gases—a heftier climate impact than all the world’s airplanes.
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