Bursting Cow Burp Myths and More

In this episode Taylor and Sweta talk to Dr. Frank Mitloehner, Dir. of the Clear Center at the Dept. of Animal Science, UC Davis. They cover a range of widely misunderstood topics from cows emitting methane (it’s their burps, not farts btw) to the future of farming. Spoiler alert: the lack of incentive for future generations to the farm is what keeps Frank up at night! The conversation gets into the role of animal agriculture in our planet warming and the little known solutions that livestock can actually play in “negative cooling,” a climate solution concept associated with planting more trees. Animal agriculture is readily vilified in the broader debate of its contribution to the planet-warming (without even the inclusion of its moral or health implications). Regardless of where you stand in this debate, we ask you to listen to Frank’s perspective and consider the many choices you can make to reduce your carbon footprint from eating less meat (given the shockingly low retention rates to veganism) to flying less. Know your facts and make better decisions because of it! ---- Please note that due to quarantine, we're still recording remotely. You may hear some unexpected background noises. We hope that won't discourage you from getting into these really important issues. --- "Have ideas for the show? Want to give some feedback?" Shoot us a voice message at [phone] and we’ll make sure to get our producer to listen to it - cause we don’t do voicemail. You can always feel free to tweet us @swetachak and @drtaylorwallace respectively or @riskybehaviordc . We love a good tweet. -- Special shoutout to Joe Proudman and Dr. Frank Mitloehner at the CLEAR Center for making this possible. To keep up with Dr. Mitloehner and the CLEAR Center, check out the relevant links below: https://clear.ucdavis.edu/people/frank-mitloehner CLEAR Center Twitter CLEAR Center Facebook Dr. Mitloehner Twitter Credits: Executive Producers/Hosts: Sweta Chakraborty and Taylor Wallace Production/Editing: Brandon Jack Lee Music featured by Cat O'Brien Special thanks to Anchor.fm for smart sounds