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TODAY Thursday 28 August 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site.

 

TODAY IN THE WORLD: MegaSheep and SuperCow

Our favorite enviro news source, Planet Ark, is edited by Australians. Planet Ark provides a useful daily reminder that there are non-American lenses for seeing the world. Yesterday, for example, we learned that the German Environment Minister had just completed a four-day visit to Tokyo, where she won from the Japanese government two important promises: one, to announce Japanese proposals for international caps on greenhouse gas emissions before the Americans offer their own proposals; and two, to agree that the all major industrialized countries should make their commitments known before requiring parallel commitments from developing countries. This story did not appear in any American source that we peruse here. It tends to undermine the reliability of our column two days ago, where we confidently explained to our readers how the US and Japan were as thick as thieves on this climate negotiating business ("No Drama on the Rhine"). Moral: broaden your horizon.

Australians, of course, wear their own blinkers, and Planet Ark offers ample updates on Queensland coal exports and recent floodings of the Murray River. Two of the other lead items in yesterday's edition were datelined Wellington, New Zealand, so I assumed we were facing an excess of Anzac boosterism. There are only 3.7 million New Zealanders, and it was hard to imagine that they could produce two big stories in one day. Wrong, as it happens, though it helps to be interested in farm animals.

New Zealanders know from livestock. There are about 50 million sheep and 10 million cattle in New Zealand. The first big story (by Catherine McCaw) is about a new major research initiative to measure methane emissions from burping and flatulent sheep. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and New Zealand emits more than eight times as much methane per capita as other developed countries. Sheep belches produce half of the national total.

It seems that some sheep produce much more methane than others. Could there be a breeding strategy that selects animals for their low-emission properties? Is there a methane-related microbe that could be treated pharmacologically? Scientists are monitoring individual sheep (sampling device which fits over nose and mouth) as well as large herds (instrument tower downwind). The image of a Norfolk ram with a face mask is a little droll, but the inquiry is as important as anything being done on emissions from tailpipes and smokestacks.

The second big story (by Simon Louisson) is about a "breakthrough" in animal breeding with huge implications for agriculture and the environment. Two New Zealand scientists announced that they had isolated a mutant form of the gene myostatin, which normally regulates and inhibits muscle growth. The mutant gene "produces a 40 percent increase in muscle mass in certain breeds of cattle, notably Belgian Blue."

This is big-time: genetic engineering, cloning, dramatic increases in beef per hoof. Is this also the devil's own business or merely a logical extension of the breeding selection that has always characterized agriculture? Does an environmentalist shrink at the usurpation of nature or welcome a benign technology that will produce more food on less resources? Any changes in the characteristics of the meat? What does this mean for small farmers ? Is a pumped-up Belgian Blue in any way more or less comfortable than his scrawny cousin?

And what's the methane belch factor?

 

TODAY ON THE SITE:

It's hard to find information about the treatment of animals without getting a lot of attitude from one side or the other. Our man Ron Kroese, Executive Director of the National Center for Appropriate Technology, provides a welcome exception. Ron offers a broad-range fair-minded tour of websites pertinent to Animal Protection, just one of 58 subjects covered under Liberty Tree High Fives.

 

Recent "Today" columns:

8/27: East Asia / Southeast Asia
8/26: No Drama on the Rhine
8/25: The End of Nature Again
8/22: Our Friend Escerichia 0157:H7
8/21: Free the Greenpeace One Million!
8/20: Cattle and Jet Skis
8/19: Not Dirty, but Bad
8/18: Thirty Glorious Years
8/15: We Span the Energy Globe
8/14: Up in Flames

To access more "Today" columns, click "Archives" below.