Turning Cow Poop Into Energy Sounds Like a Good Idea — But Not Everyone Is on Board

Photo credit: Joseph Sorrentino / Shutterstock. Article by Alessandra Bergamin. Discover Magazine – April 11, 2021.

In California’s Central Valley, a gas utility is harvesting methane from manure on cow feedlots. Critics worry the push toward biogas will only further entrench two polluting industries.

On days when the air pollution is especially bad, a mother in Tulare County, California – where cows outnumber people 2 to 1 – forbids her children from going outside. The woman, who declined to be named for fear of reprisal from her neighbors in the dairy industry, said that nearly everyone in her family, including herself, suffers from a combination of severe allergies and asthma, overlapping illnesses that cause sleepless nights, sick days and weekly doctor’s appointments. […]

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