Word: carbonic
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...burping, belching and excreting copious amounts of methane - a greenhouse gas that traps 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide - India's livestock of roughly 485 million (including sheep and goats) contributes more to global warming than the vehicles the animals obstruct. With new research suggesting that methane emission by Indian livestock is higher than previously estimated, scientists are furiously working at designing diets to help bovines and other ruminants eat better, stay more energetic and secrete smaller amounts of the offensive gas. (See pictures of India's largest ruminant: the Asian elephant...
Most dietary interventions work by checking methogens - microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments like cows' guts, where they convert the available hydrogen and carbon (by-products of digestion) into methane, a colorless, odorless gas. "We encourage well-to-do farmers to use oilseed cakes, which provide unsaturated fatty acids that get rid of the hydrogen," Singhal says. Another solution is herbal additives. Some commonly used Indian herbs such as shikakai and reetha, which go into making soap, and many kinds of oilseeds contain saponins and tannins, substances that make for lathery, bitter meals but block hydrogen availability for methogens...
...Bonn meetings weren't totally devoid of progress. One of the main questions facing global-climate negotiators is what should be done about tropical deforestation, since the logging and burning of trees is responsible for a fifth or more of global carbon emissions. The current Kyoto Protocol doesn't address the issue, and many - though not all - environmentalists would like to add avoided deforestation to a new global climate deal, allowing rich countries to offset some of their carbon emissions by paying tropical nations to preserve their forests. Although the idea is a controversial one - Greenpeace released a report...
...whole, delegates left Bonn stuck in the same standoff that has all but paralyzed global climate talks over the past several years. Poor nations want rich nations to accept deep, mandatory carbon cuts, and pay tens of billions of dollars in aid to help developing countries combat global warming. Rich nations are squeamish about committing to extreme measures without help from major developing nations like China and India, which will be responsible for the lion's share of new carbon emissions in the decade ahead. And all leaders are feeling the squeeze of the economic downturn, which has shunted public...
...ready to lead." But hopeful talk doesn't necessarily translate to numbers or action. One of the biggest topics of debate at Bonn was the draft climate-change bill released in late March by Democratic Congressmen Henry Waxman and Edward Markey, which aims to cut U.S. carbon emissions 20% below 2005 levels by 2020. That goal is significantly less ambitious than what the E.U. has pledged, but getting that bill - or anything close to it - through Congress, especially by the Copenhagen summit, will be a legislative headache...