Re: Do cows contribute significantly to ozone layer depletion?

Andrea,

You didn't provide a website page, but I bet they meant to say that methane from cows is a major contributor to global warming. Methane accounts for about 15% of global warming and has nearly 30 times the power of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Around 30% of methane gas released into the atmosphere comes from livestock.

Greenhouse gases while heating up the troposphere are actually cooling down the stratosphere. This leads to an increasing rate of ozone depletion. I should point out that a reduction in CFCs and associated chemicals will provide the long term solution to maintaining the ozone layer. Greenhouse gases play only minor role in the ozone problem.

Richard Kingsley