Atmopsheric concentrations of methane are stable, (some years it falls, some years it increases) despite a doubling in global consumption of meat and dairy products over the last 30 years.
This is why;
Estimated sources and sinks of methane in Tg CH4 (a Tg = 1 million tonnes) per year from the IPCC Working Group 1 report
Sources
Wetlands 115
Rice paddies 110
Livestock 80
Natural gas venting 45
Biomass burning 40
Termites 40
Landfills 40
Coal mining 35
Oceans 10
Freshwaters 5
Other 5
Total 525 Tg
Sinks
Removal be soils 30
Reaction with OH in the atmosphere 500
Total Sink 530 Tg
Of the total 525 Tg CH4 produced per year the only fossil sources are coal and natural gas totalling 80 Tg per year. These are the only non- natural cycle emissions that have the potential to raise the atmospheric concentration of methane and maybe cause global warming.
But they don’t, natural sinks absorb even them, including removal of methane by farmers’ soils, for which no credit is given to the farmer who owns the soil.
Atmospheric levels of methane are not the problem, especially the sources of methane that are ECO EMISSIONS or BIOGENIC such as livestock methane.
Is there a scientist anywhere that can argue against this!
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