Busting myth spread by "MythBusters

[Viking12]

Mythbusters, a show I enjoy, currently has a "green quiz" posted on their website. Sadly, the quiz spread disinformation and political propaganda.

http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/quiz/go-green/go-green.html

MythThe answer to the first question, "Cow farts are a major cause of global warming. True or False" is highly inaccurate. The MythBusters claim, "The correct answer is TRUE. According to a 2006 report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock industry is one of the top three contributors to the planet's most serious environmental problems. Cows and other livestock (such as pigs, sheep and goats) release methane gas when they burp or fart, making them responsible for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas problem. It's estimated that a single cow can produce 25 to 130 gallons of methane a day."

Reality However, the actual report reports the 18% fisgure is derived from “aggregate emissions throughout the livestock commodity chain - from feed production (which includes chemical fertilizer production, deforestation for pasture and feed crops, and pasture degradation), through animal production (including enteric fermentation and nitrous oxide emissions from manure) to the carbon dioxide emitted during processing and transportation of animal products.”

While the cow farts do contribute signifcantly to methane emissions (37% of all human-induced sources) and ammonia (64%), they are not a major cause.

http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm

Later in the quiz they ask "Al Gore's Nashville home uses considerably more energy than George W. Bush's Crawford ranch. T or F" WTF does this have to do with anything?

I'd e-mail Discovery/Mythbusters but can't find an address.

[glowing]

1. don't you know that's a propaganda channel.. add along history and

pbs and anything pretty much on t.v... best thing.. turn it off, go outside, and do something productive.. or just relax on a spring day.

[tularetom]

2. Nonsense! We used to have a lot of cows. It wasn't any warmer then.

[Kolesar]

4. that's pretty stupid

[tularetom]

8. Um it was

:sarcasm:

May have been stupid :sarcasm: but :sarcasm: nonetheless.

[FREEWILL56]

12. By the same token the bison are now so far reduced in numbers

because of their slaughter to the point of their near extinction that it has stopped a great deal of methane production by them. Regardless, anything that lives will die and that creates greenhouse gasses and this has always been the case throughout history.
The point they were getting at was that bush has solar panels and that Gore, an advocate for the environment, has nothing. I agree they are putting forth a bias in there mythbusting, but I do wonder why Gore's hypocrisy on this.

[emmadoggy]

17. Gore doesn't have "nothing". He has added

solar and geothermal to his home.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/13/gore.home.ap/index.html

[FREEWILL56]

21. I stand corrected as he at one point didn't have anything and the puke did.

[Warpy]

3. Yes, they've gotten it wrong a few times.

Your best bet is probably joining the message board at their fan site, http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/mythbusters.html I know they do read it from time to time and you'll probably get through there better than trying to do it by contacting the corporate HQ, the only other alternative I found.

[PATRICK]

5. Bush's ranch

has the state of the art independent and alternate energy sources. In Bush's case this is arrogant possession of things he won't let common folk even think about to castellate himself against the shortages he has unleashed. In Gore's case it is trying to be model in saving the planet and spreading the technological solutions. With his own money.

[DainBramaged]

6. Light that match

ALL organic emissions contribute to Global warming. We have created hundreds of millions more head of livestock than existed even 20 years ago, and you don't think that their "emissions" don't hurt the atmosphere? I wouldn't want to be behind that cow's ass



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy2h5QtV0yE

[Viking12]

11. I didn't say they made no contribution.

Only that in th big picture, it's relatively minor. Not a "major factor" as they claim, certainly not 18%.

[DainBramaged]

13. Well, how much does a cow fart weigh?

Horse fart? Sheep fart? Pig fart? multiplied by how many gazillions of animals? And human farts, what do they contribute to the atmosphere? Billions and billions of people farting at once. Actually measured in tonnage (cumulative).

[Submariner]

7. Don't go blaming cows! They may turn on us someday

[MADem]

9. Here's their goofy website

http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/mythbusters.html


You can go to this link http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/talk/talk.html and make your point:

Talk About It e-mail share bookmark print

If you're like us, you've heard a good many stories in your time. A lot of them certainly seem true. But others ... well, did Lucille Ball really bust a Japanese spy ring by picking up on radio signals in her dental fillings?

We're here to help answer that question and more. Give us your myths, and we'll give you peace of mind. Just post them in our message boards; we'll check them out and see what we can do.

And while you're there, let us know what you think of the show, or just say hello to Jamie (aka "jamiehyneman"), Adam (aka "mistersavage") or executive producer Dan Tapster (aka "producer_dan"). They're cool that way.

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It's just the way it is; check out our Visitor Agreement below. Believe us, we don't want to edit you, but we will if we have to. So submit those myths, but be realistic about which we could actually test and air, OK?

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CLICK HERE TO JOIN ALL THE DISCUSSIONS.

[One_Life_To_Give]

10. Splitting Hairs?

37% of methane emissions? And methane being a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. So how do you get that cow farts are not at the very least a significant contributor?

[Viking12]

14. Cow farts are a distraction from the real problem, CO2.

Not that methane isn't important, but its atmospheric life is considerable shorter. Allowing people to believe that cow farts are a "major source" of global warming diverts attention away from policy discussions concerning the primary culprit, fossil fuel emissions.

[phantom power]

15. but methane turns into CO2, right?

Also, given its 20x increase in GHG potency over CO2, it might catch up, with permafrost methane releases, or god forbid ocean floor methane.

[struggle4progress]

19. Source is carbon already in the biosphere: fixed by photosynthesis, re-released by animal

Changing some existing CO2 to methane could have a short-term effect but it eventually is reoxidized to the CO2 it was originally

[skids]

20. No, look up what he mentioned.

If the clathrates or permafrost methane stores go we are in a world of crap. That's sequestered carbon, and it's being released in the worst form possible, especially since it looks like whatever was absorbing the methane increase for the last decade has reached capacity, and more of it is now staying in the atmosphere.

That said, Mythbusters are a bunch of hacks. I still remember the episode where they tried to debunk the fact that driving fast over washboard roads is smoother, and measured the deflection of their shock absorber and then applied the results completely ass-backwards. It doesn't surprise me that these lightweights would fall for Limbot cow fart nonsense.

All they have going for them is access to cool toys and more free spare time than you or I.

[struggle4progress]

22. Thread is on "cow farts" which recycle atmospheric carbon

[DainBramaged]

16. EVERYTHING man does contributes to Global warming, including raising livestock

Cow farts aren't a distraction. They are a symptom of the bigger problem.

[Summer93]

18. Powerful

Farts are incredibly powerful - look at what Bush does with his. When I saw the flaming outhouse I thought - powerful - that could be the next highway vehicle and nobody would get close enough to challenge you.:sarcasm: