Experts Target Rice As Climate Culprit - AP

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Experts Target Rice As Climate Culprit
By MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer
10:00 AM PDT, May 1, 2007

BANGKOK, Thailand -- As delegates to a climate conference here
debate how to reduce greenhouse gases, one of the problems --
and a possible solution -- lies in the rice fields that cover much
of Thailand, the rest of Asia and beyond.

Methane emissions from flooded rice paddies contribute to global
warming just as coal-fired power plants, automobile exhausts and
other sources do with the carbon dioxide they spew into the
atmosphere.

In fact, the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change meeting this week in Bangkok concludes that rice
production was a main cause of rising methane emissions in the
20th century. It calls for better controls.

-snip-

For Asians, modifying rice production might prove easier and
cheaper than some of the other fixes proposed in the IPCC draft
report, such as switching from coal to solar, wind power or
other renewable energy sources.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-climate-change-rice,1,6049238.story

---

The article goes on to describe how rice production generate less
methane and why some farmers have not changed their practices.

[Redstone]

1. Oh, balls. HOW long have people been growing rice in paddies?

A damn LONG time.

Redstone

[Igel]

4. Actually they're pretty sure they found a carbon signature

that goes back to the start of agriculture, and has only increased since then.

[Redstone]

5. Increased, along with the population, yes. But I think it's better if we concentrate on fossil

fuels than rice paddies. Paddies, and farting cows, should be the second-tier order of concern, yes?

(I'm not saying that they're not problems; just saying that they're probably not the MAIN problem.)

Redstone

[saltpoint]

2. She definitely sucks as Secretary of State, too.

[Redstone]

6. I was wondering who else noticed the capitalization.

Redstone

[saltpoint]

8. Hi, Redstone. I just didn't want to pass up an opportunity to disparage

Condoleezza Rice.

If I had, I just don't think I could live with myself.

:hi:

[Redstone]

9. And I'm glad you took the opportunity.

Redstone

[damntexdem]

3. Dry rice production prevails in some parts of the world.

It could presumably be introduced in those parts of Asia that now grow rice in paddies.

[Xithras]

7. I don't know how much of this I believe.

Methane production from rice paddies is, of course, real. However! Lowland rice paddies are often located in regions which were naturally marshland prior to the advent of agriculture and the conversion of the land to supporting humans. This swampland was a natural greenhouse gas producer and is a normal contributor to our atmospheric equilibrium. Does this cover all rice fields? Not hardly. In many parts of the world, rice paddies also exist in areas which had previously been dry, and methane emitted from these lands is a net gain for the atmosphere. Right? Not neccesarily. Over the past 300 years an estimated half billion acres of swamps, bogs, marshes, backwaters, mangroves, estuaries, vernal pools, and inter tidal zones have been drained and converted to urban use, dryland farming, or lost to the encroaching sea worldwide. This wetlands produced methane prior to their destruction, but today produce only less volatile CO2 and dust (excepting, of course, those wetlands that have been converted to rice paddies). I don't know how many acres of rice are in production today, but I would suspect that any increased emissions from rice production would be wholly or partially offset by the reduction of natural emissions caused by wetlands destruction.

[Eugene]

10. The big issue with rice paddies is how they are flooded and fertilized.

The article states that, with traditional methods,
manure fertilizer and unharvested rice decompose
in the airless flooded paddy, producing exceptionally
large amounts of methane. As rice production grows
to feed growing populations, this can be a serious
problem. Not all wetlands are equal.

The article goes on to say farmers in places like China
have started to use alternative fertilizers, less water
and different kinds of land to reduce methane output.
Not all farmers are adopting these changes however.