Methane Production from Factory Cattle Farming

Informative Speech

GP: to inform

SP: to inform my audience about how cows produce methane

CI: Cattle produce methane through fermentation in their digestive process, levels varying based on factors such as their diet, and their manure when stored in anaerobic lagoons, all the while their production is subsidized by the government thereby encouraging more methane emissions. 

Introduction

(Attention Getter) 

1. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“Overview…”) has a website overviewing methane emissions, which states livestock and manure management combine to be “the largest source of methane emissions in the United States;” in 2018 these sectors contributed to thirty-eight percent of the total. 

(Relate Topic to the Audience)

2. This is important because despite its shorter lifetime in the atmosphere than CO2, according to the EPA, “Pound for pound, the comparative impact of CH4 [methane] is 25 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period (“Overview…”),” so that means the more methane we emit the more efficiently we pollute our atmosphere and contribute to climate change. 

1. I’m sure you're all aware of carbon dioxide’s impact on global warming, and clearly methane is far worse. 

2. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between cows and methane.

(Credibility)

3. Personally, I like to spend my time researching various causes of climate change, how they happen, and how to prevent them. 

1. Beef and dairy cows have become a recent focus of mine. 

2. In addition, I have now read several articles and watched several videos on digestive fermentation, feed options, manure management, and meat and dairy subsidies.

(CI) - Cattle produce methane through fermentation in their digestive process, more or less depending on their diet, and via their manure when it is stored in anaerobic lagoons, all the while cattle production is subsidized by the government.

Transition: The methane production process that is innate to cattle is fermentation that occurs in the first of their four stomachs, the rumen, as a part of digestion.  

Body

1. When cows digest their food, especially grass, a process called enteric fermentation is involved. 

1. In order to break down and digest cellulose the enzyme cellulase must be present. 

1. However, no mammal produces cellulase, therefore it has to be brought in by microorganisms (Elsden). 

2. These microorganisms in the rumen are then able to break down cellulose into glucose (A). 

2. This is then fermented in the anaerobic environment of the stomach and broken down into volatile fatty acids (VFA), namely propionic and butyric acids. 

1. The VFAs can then be absorbed and used by the cow. 

2. It is also during this fermentation process that hydrogen and carbon dioxide are produced as a by-product which other microorganisms, methanogens, take and produce methane, which is then released from the cow primarily by cow burps (Haque). 

Transition: Another aspect to consider while looking at their digestion process is to look at how their diet affects methane production. 

2. Grass is the natural food for cattle, but because it is more difficult to digest than grain, and more grass is needed to provide sufficient energy and nutrition, when grass is their only feed source they end up producing more methane and over a longer period of time.  

1. But if the grass fed to them is young, then it's easier for cows to digest and therefore relatively reduces methane emissions compared to if the grass were more mature (Haque). 

2. It should be recognized though, the net greenhouse gas emissions from cows eating grass is comparatively lower than cows eating grain.

1. If cows are rotated on pasture land, their nibbling promotes new growth, their stomping works manure into the soil, and the grass and soil provide a significant carbon-sink.

2. Grain production on the other hand, uses fossil-fuel based fertilizers, pesticides and transportation (Farms).

Transition: And when the non-digestible feed comes out the other end, what does that mean for methane production? 

3. In factory farming operations, manure is often stored in lagoons, which are outdoor earthen basins.

1. These are anaerobic systems meaning they do not have access to oxygen, therefore as the manure is decomposed methane is produced (Mangino). 

1. Methanogens are microorganisms that convert by-products of initial decomposition, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, into methane (Li). 

2. However, in an aerobic environment, oxygen inhibits the growth of methanogens.

2. Therefore, restricting manure to an anaerobic environment produces more methane than if it were spread out over a greater area of land (Peter).

Transition: Finally, it is worth considering how the volume of cattle raising got to be where it is today, at least in the United States.

4. Currently our government continues to directly and indirectly subsidize meat and dairy farming. 

1. Besides directly, two indirect ways they subsidize these industries is through grain subsidies and manure maintenance subsidies.

1. The government subsidizes them for their operations using tax dollars.

1. This is what drops the number on meat and dairy price tags. 

2. And this is instead of subsidizing fruits and vegetables (O’connor).

2. In the US 900 million acres are dedicated to corn, and most of the corn produced goes to livestock feed (Capehart). 

2. These subsidies were put in place to help alleviate farmer’s strain in the Dust Bowl and The Great Depression. 

1. They subsidized farmers to ensure supply did not exceed demand and so that their products would be profitable. 

2. However, the subsidies no longer serve their original purpose (Amadeo).

Transition: In summation, there are several variables associated with cattle farming’s methane production. 

Conclusion

(recap main points/thesis)

1. When cows digest their food, especially grass, a process called enteric fermentation is involved and a primary by-product is methane.

2. Cows that are also fed grain overall have a more significant environmental impact. 

3. In factory farming operations, once cows poop out the non-digestible waste, the manure is often stored in anaerobic lagoons leading to additional methane production.

4. And currently our government continues to subsidize meat and dairy farming. 

(bang)

5. Even with all this waste created and resources put into these operations, the Environmental Working Group’s website states, “Roughly 20% of all meat sold in the US winds up in the trash. That makes the pesticides, fertilizer, fuel and water used to produce and process it, as well as the resulting greenhouse gases and environmental damage, unnecessary and preventable” (Group). 

1. And when wasted meat is sent to the landfill, and becomes buried by other waste creating an anaerobic environment and enhancing methane production. 

2. Nearly the whole life cycle of the cattle industry causes methane emissions. 

Edit: Please also view this TEDx : It's not the cow, it's the how. (Savory Institute)

Works Cited

A, DIGICLASS. “Life Process:-Digestion in Ruminants-07.” YouTube, 20 Jan. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK7IWjNYwxI.

Amadeo, Kimberly. “What Are the Major Federal Government Subsidies?” The Balance, 2020, www.thebalance.com/government-subsidies-definition-farm-oil-export-etc-3305788.

Capehart, Thomas, and David W. Olson. “Feedgrains Sector at a Glance.” USDA ERS - Feedgrains Sector at a Glance, 26 Feb. 2020, www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn-and-other-feedgrains/feedgrains-sector-at-a-glance/.

Elsden, S.R. “Ruminant Digestion.” Annual Reviews, 1948, www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.bi.17.070148.003421.

Farms, Silver Fern. “Grain-Fed Beef vs. Grass-Fed Beef – Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” New Zealand Meats, 2011, newzealmeats.com/blog/grain-fed-vs-grass-fed-beef-greenhouse-gas-emissions/.

Group, Environmental Working. “Waste.” Waste - 2011 Meat Eaters Guide | Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change + Health | Environmental Working Group, 2011, www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/interactive-graphic/waste/.

Haque, Najmul. “Dietary Manipulation: a Sustainable Way to Mitigate Methane Emissions from Ruminants.” Journal of Animal Science and Technology, 2018, janimscitechnol.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s40781-018-0175-7.

Li, Changsheng, et al. "Manure-DNDC: A Biogeochemical Process Model for Quantifying Greenhouse Gas and Ammonia Emissions from Livestock Manure Systems." Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, vol. 93, no. 2, 2012, pp. 163-200. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2048/login?url=https://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2457/docview/2259661045?accountid=38295, doi:http://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2069/10.1007/s10705-012-9507-z.

Mangino, Joseph, et al. “Development of a Methane Conversion Factor to Estimate Emissions from Animal Waste Lagoons.” Environmental Protection Agency, 2001, www3.epa.gov/ttn/chief/conference/ei11/ammonia/mangino.pdf.

Mitchell, Peter. “The Use of Cow Manure for Fertilizer.” Home Guides | SF Gate, 21 Nov. 2017, homeguides.sfgate.com/use-cow-manure-fertilizer-43702.html.

O'connor, Anahad. “How the Government Supports Your Junk Food Habit.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 July 2016, well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/how-the-government-supports-your-junk-food-habit/.

“Overview of Greenhouse Gases.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 10 Apr. 2020, www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases.

American Oppression

American Oppression

Michael “Killer Mike” Render is a modern rapper who unapologetically brings a range of political topics to light. His R.A.P. Music album, was released in 2012, around the time that information was being uncovered about the unprecedented incarceration rates, especially of African-Americans. Prisoners are paid nothing or almost nothing to provide cheap and consistent labor for corporations. And reported in 2008, America held twenty-five percent of the world’s prison population when the country only makes up five percent of the world’s population (Peláez). If every state were a country, many of them top the charts for having the highest number of incarceration rates in the world (Wagner). However, this type of information can easily be watered down then swept under the rug with comments like, “Oh well, I am sure the cops are just doing their job,” or “They’re in prison for doing something really bad, they deserve to get punished.” Killer Mike’s political knowledge is evident in R.A.P. Music, and album that invigorates his listeners as his lyrics explore systemic racism of African-Americans, who experience a disproportionate amount of excessive police force, and imprisonment and exploitation, which is exacerbated by corporate power. 

The song “Reagan,” included in the R.A.P. Music album, emphasizes that racism never completely went away in America. During Reagan’s presidency, “They declared the war on drugs, like a war on terror/But what it really did was let the police terrorize whoever/But mostly black boys, but they would call us ‘niggers’” (“Killer Mike – Reagan.”). It became a lot easier to find and criminalize young black men for  possession of illegal drugs, including marijuana, even if they had never committed a violent crime. Because of racial profiling, and the frequent dehumanization of African-Americans, it is more likely for a black person to be subject to search and seizure than a white person. Racist cops not only use this to their advantage, but they use it as an excuse to exercise excessive force on non-violent individuals, explicitly stated by Killer Mike, “And lay us on our belly, while they fingers on they triggers/They boots was on our head, they dogs was on our crotches/And they would beat us up if we had diamonds on our watches” (“Killer Mike – Reagan.”). Despite the fact that black people and white people use marijuana at about the same rate, arrests of black people have been almost four times higher than arrests of white people, documented from 2007 to 2010. Black men are racially profiled and seized and become victims of excessive force (ACLU). In August 2019, video evidence of an unarmed man, named Elonte McDowell, victim to a cop’s near fatal amount of force went viral. McDowell had tried to flee the scene after police uncovered his illegal possession of marijuana, however after this did not give the a cop the right tase him a number of times then bring him to the ground and torture him in a chokehold. It is unlikely the officer will face punishment, other than “temporary reassignment,” despite the recent ban of the chokehold in Illinois (Allen). 

Even after people are tortured and arrested on the streets, it is possible for those charged only with possession of illegal drugs to be sent to prison, where “thanks to Reaganomics, prison turned to profits/’Cause free labor’s the cornerstone of US economics/’Cause slavery was abolished, unless you are in prison” (“Killer Mike – Reagan.”). One man, Bernard Noble, a father of seven children, was sentenced to thirteen years of hard labor in prison for carrying two joints worth of marijuana in 2011. The justification for his sentence was his record of cocaine and marijuana possession in the past, but the treatment still felt unfair because many states, other than Louisiana, were legalizing it, and none of his crimes were violent (Lewis). Convicted black men are given more severe sentences and sometimes have difficulty getting parole (12,13). Once in prison, anyone can be subjected to forced labor without compensation; ratified in 1865, section one of the 13th Amendment of the American constitution justifies it, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime for which the person has been duly convicted, shall exist withing the United States or any place subject to its juristiction” (Garcia). Arguably this would not be so bad if the jobs were humane, realistic, at least paid minimum wage, and prepared them for their life after prison or allowed them to send a helpful amount of money home.  The combination of allowing slavery in prison and disproportionately sending African-Americans to prison, proves that the government and the law enforcement never abolished slavery. 

In 2010, prison inmates in Georgia went on strike. It was coordinated across seven state prisons and lasted about six days. They refused to go to work and stayed in their cells to protest unpaid labor, and inhumane treatment. The strike ended with some prisoners going to the law library with the intent to learn how to file a lawsuit (Spencer). As of 2017, Georgia continues to not pay its prison laborers (Sawyer). In California, prisoners are mislead with well renowned jobs such as fire fighting, but know that even if they pursue it while they are behind bars they will never be able to be a fireman outside of prison is heartbreaking and unjust. Recently this happened with the massive fires, they were allowed to earn an extra dollar a day fighting the fires or even reduced sentences, but legislation Governor Gavin Newson signed allows former prisoners only to help assist in emergency response units, “stop[ping] short of allowing them to become full-fledged firefighters” (Chapman). They risk their lives fighting these fires for their fellow American citizens, a handful even have died on duty, one would think they get better compensation in a number of ways for their heroic actions. The prison system is an example of the intersection of corporate greed and racism. 

Corporate influence is strong in the government which enables them to keep the cost of labor extremely low in the prison systems. In Killer Mike’s “Untitled,” he stresses that his lyrics are “not fiction that is sold by conglomerates” (“Killer Mike (Ft. Scar) – Untitled.” ). He does not work for the conglomerates and therefore can be a trusted outspoken voice for prisoners exploited for corporate profit. Politicians, however, in order to get elected, they need funding and will often take money from corporations for their campaigns. As soon as they take corporate money that’s who they are working for. Members of the House of Representatives are up for reelection every two years, so they are constantly fundraising. Corporations’ deep pockets are the politicians’ easy way to get in the House and stay in. If the corporations are behind a presidential election, the integrity of the Supreme Court can be affected too, because the President has the power to nominate and appoint Supreme Court justices. Both Supreme Court cases Buckley v. Valeo (1976) and Citizens United v. FEC (2010) gave corporations forms of human rights. Buckley v. Valeo (1976) states that money can be used as free speech, implying that you can buy speech and the more money you have the more speech you are allowed to have. And later, the Citizens United v. FEC (2010) expands on this idea to explicitly include corporations in having the same “free speech” rights as people. The founders wrote the constitution with the Enlightenment ideology that people and their rights are more important than anything, including money. In effect, the American government in the past has, and is currently giving more human rights to corporations than to imprisoned individuals.

Killer Mike does not align with any political party, but still believes in voting; the primary and fundamental power the people have to choose their government officials. He emphasizes the importance of staying up to date on current events, speaking out, taking to the streets in protest, and helping others get to the voting booths is all a very important part of the active voting process. Mindless hope after checking off your ballot for presidential elections and apathy for local elections is not what is going to facilitate change. Democratic officials have not prioritised improving the quality of life for the black community and the marginalized. They speak for the black voters but they do not act for the black voters. Killer Mike wants African-Americans to stop letting Democrats take them for granted. They have got to start demanding their rights and what they deserve by threatening to stay home and not vote. He does not necessarily want people to not vote, but he understands that much of the black community will always vote Democrat without keeping the heat on their representatives to improve their quality of life (TMZ). Voting in a democracy is necessary, but after being marginalized for so long  other more drastic strategies may need to be considered in order for the black community to truly be heard. 

 Killer Mike knows African-American men should not have to live in this country each day running from the bullet, still fighting for their civil rights. Together, each demographic makes America. Standing strong, arms locked in alliance, cannot be successful if there is someone kicking down the person beside them. To hurt one American is to hurt the rest. The rich get the longest reprieve, but eventually they will tumble down too. His ideas are not new, “but there’s a tangible thill in hearing someone tell it like it is with such conviction” (Cohen). Hopefully his drive to raise awareness, inform others, and persuade them to vote, will impact enough people to make a difference.

Works Cited

ACLU. “Marijuana Arrests by the Numbers.” American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers.

Allen, Karma. “Investigation Underway after Video Appears to Show Officer Choking Man.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 28 Aug. 2019, abcnews.go.com/US/investigation-underway-video-appears-show-officer-choking-man/story?id=65241704.

Chapman, Isabelle. “Prison Inmates Are Fighting California's Fires, but Are Often Denied Firefighting Jobs after Their Release.” CNN, Cable News Network, 31 Oct. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/10/31/us/prison-inmates-fight-california-fires-trnd/index.html.

Cohen, Ian. Killer Mike “R.A.P Music.” Review of R.A.P Music, by Killer Mike. Pitchfork, May 15 2012, https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16537-killer-mike-rap-music/

Garcia, Ruben J. “US Prisoners' Strike Is Reminder How Commonplace Inmate Labor Is – and That It May Run Afoul of the Law.” The Conversation, 31 Jan. 2020, theconversation.com/us-prisoners-strike-is-reminder-how-commonplace-inmate-labor-is-and-that-it-may-run-afoul-of-the-law-101948.

“Killer Mike – Reagan.” Genius, 15 May 2012, genius.com/Killer-mike-reagan-lyrics.

“Killer Mike (Ft. Scar) – Untitled.” Genius, 16 Mar. 2012, genius.com/Killer-mike-untitled-lyrics.

Lewis, Nicole, and Maurice Chammah. "Seven Years Behind Bars for Two Joints - and Now He’s Free: Bernard Noble, Whose Case Became a Symbol of Harsh Drug Laws, Walks Out of a Louisiana Prison."ProQuest, Apr 12, 2018, http://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2048/login?url=https://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2457/docview/2024173139?accountid=38295.

Peláez, Vicky. “The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?” Global Research, 15 Dec. 2019, www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289.

Sawyer, Wendy. “How Much Do Incarcerated People Earn in Each State?” Prison Policy Initiative, 2017, www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/.

Spencer, N. (2011). Georgia prisoners strike for wages, better medical care and food. Prison Legal News, 22(1), 24. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.canyons.edu:2048/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/851775320?accountid=38295

TMZ. “Killer Mike On Why Hillary Clinton's Gonna Owe the Black Community | TMZ.” YouTube, YouTube, 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwaolqjGRZY&list=PLogDUhtBbbNO0Bu-kQu2MJRwRI_iJZkms&index=7&t=0s.

Wagner, Peter, and Wendy Sawyer. “States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2018.” Prison Policy Initiative, June 2018, www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2018.html.

Winerip, Michael, et al. “For Blacks Facing Parole in New York State, Signs of a Broken System.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/nyregion/new-york-prisons-inmates-parole-race.html.