Realtor ®-The Woodlands Real Estate

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Laughing Gas and Animal Dung are Causing Global Warming

By reading my title I'm sure that you are saying, "this chick has lost her mind!"  Well, maybe not...or maybe we know now what caused the extinction of Dinosaurs and the Ice Age.  LOL.  The title was just a teaser.

Seriously,  I was searching through some local Green Events in Texas when I ran across a website Driving Green.  Here you can go to the website, type in the make, model, and year that your car was made and 'offset' your emissions for the number of miles that you drive each year.

At first I thought maybe this was just a gimmick for someone to make money so I just HAD to check out what they were doing.

I went to the How It Works section to find out that they are serious.  This site works with Agcert which is a company that supports Dairies and other farms to turn animal dung in to a Renewable Energy Source and keep the Methane and Nitrous Oxide from going in to the Atmosphere.  These 2 gases are Many Times more powerful than Carbon Dioxide when it comes to Greenhouse Gases.  Who'da Known?

AgCert has a Slideshow where you can watch this very detailed process that they go through to prevent these gases from contributing to Global Warming.  It is very interesting and I'm sure that the 'odor' of this farm is more pleasurable than most. 

If you go to Driving Green you can 'offset' an airline flight, car mileage or even an event/large party.  It would cost me $104 to offset the emissions from my car.  I do not not honestly understand this all enough to say one way or the other, but it does sounds like a good cause.  These farms are then powered by the 'dung' produced on the farm.  (BioGas)

So, go check out all of these links and see if you want to prevent Laughing Gas and Animal Dung from causing anymore Global Warming!  I will do some more research and then decide if I will.

Thanks Randy Hershfield on Flickr for this great cartoon!

28 comments • Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate • September 19 2007 10:59AM

Comments

great slide show....Do they use the energy the catch...In other words can it pay for itself?
Posted by Brandon Causey Realtor Coastal Palmetto Realty LLC (Coastal Palmetto Realty LLC) over 4 years ago
Stephanie, I'll check them out tonight with my husband, he loves this kind of stuff. Thanks for the info.
Posted by Camarillo CA Real Estate Agent/ Mana Tulberg (805 County Real Estate) over 4 years ago
Hi Brandon,  Yes.  They do use it but these projects cost LOTS of $$$$ so the offsetting of emissions goes towards it to help make it possible for the dairies.  These are BIG dairies...not just a small farm.
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Hi Mana,  is your husband a Greenie? :)  It is very interesting.  I am going to research it some more.  Just imagine if every Realtor (R) in the U.S. did this..how much money would they make?  How many Dairies could the fund with it? 
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
I have read a little about carbon offsets and while it sounds like a great idea it does not do anything to make a worthwhile change in our wasteful habits. Instead of actually getting people to change what they do it is a license for them to continue to be wasteful. On top of that how do you know for sure if those offsets you buy are actually being used correctly. Will everyone who buys them go and make sure that the supposedly environmentally friendly changes are being implemented? We need to make an effort to change our habits and develop real alternative technology to reduce our fossil fuel consumption and energy usage.
Posted by Mark Pilatowski (myClosingSPACE) over 4 years ago
Hi Stephanie! Great blog. I have cut down on driving my car quite a bit to do my part. I walk somewhere if I can...which is also good for the body...and carpool when possible. My daughter complains if I don't which is a great motivator, but its good for the planet so whatever my part is....I do what I can. :)  Thanks for bringing up these important issues and great information to us all. :)
Posted by Pamela Williamson Team Clayton, Missouri Real Estate (Dielmann Sotheby's International Realty) over 4 years ago
Stephanie, I see us going back about 100 years and farming the old fashioned way.  My grandfather never used chemicals on his crops, he did the natural thing and rotated them.  He never used chemical fertilizer, he used animal dung.  I remember bumper crops and fantastic tasting home grown vegetables.  Not today, the fields have been killed by the use of chemicals, thus the need to use more chemicals to sustain a crop, yields don't seem to be higher, and truck crops taste like crap.  Until we release ourselves from the hold the petroleum industry has on the world and go back to the way it should be, we're going to continue to poison ourselves and allow the animal husbandry emissions to continue to contribute to global warming.  As an aside, cattle fed grass do not produce the quantities of methane gas that grain fed cattle produce AND they do not produce e-coli laden dung, which as we;ve found out recently runs off into food producing fields and contaminates the produce with e-coli.
Posted by Terry Haugen STAGE it RIGHT! 321-956-2495 (Stage it Right!) over 4 years ago
Stephanie, I've met some of the people most active in this endeavor...right here in sleepy ole College Station.  They are absolutely fascinating to talk too!!!!
Posted by Chris Tesch College Station, Texas Real Estate (RE/MAX Bryan College Station) over 4 years ago

"this chick has lost her mind!"  You said it, we didn't !   : )

One other factor is that if we humans, especially Americans didn't demand so much beef in our diets the dung factor would be much less. And as Terry mentioned with out animal waste our crops and salads wouldn't be recalled either. Another thought is buy local from farmers and rangers you work in the correct manner. Local food isn't trucked, refridgerated and packaged as much as food grown 1/2 way around the world.

Posted by Dena Stevens ~ Putting the 'real' into REALTOR (Century 21 Canon Land & Investment) over 4 years ago

Stephanie...

I love your posts, they are never boring and never cookie cutter!!!!!

Brad Snyder

Posted by Brad Snyder (Sierra Vista Realty) over 4 years ago

Stephanie,  I can't believe my vehicle was only $72.00.

That smell on the farm is the smell of money!

Posted by Gary Smith (Agent Marketing Today) over 4 years ago
Stephanie - we can sure depend on you for knowing the green facts :o)
Posted by Thesa Chambers, Principal Broker Licensed in Oregon, with (Prudential NW Properties Sunriver) over 4 years ago
Stephanie - I love your title! That alone will get people checking in! I will play on the driving green website a little later! Thanks for the link!
Posted by Mary Bigelow, 2010 Let's Do It AGAIN!!!! (Contractors Building Supply) over 4 years ago

Stephanie,

Up the road in Raleigh they have a Biotech company that powers their entire plant off of methane gas from an old landfill.  I bet the locals are happy to see these dairy conversions for the smell reduction alone!  

Posted by Rita Taylor | Sanford NC Real Estate & Homes for Sale in Sanford North Carolina (None) over 4 years ago
Hi Mark,  you bring up some awesome points.  That is why I was going to do some research before I hopped in and did it.  I love your thoughts on the issue.  Thanks for voicing them!  I agree, people need to consider what they do and not just throw money to make it go away. 
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Hi Pamela,  I'm glad your daughter keeps after you.  :)  My daughter is all for Environmental stuff too.  So cute at 10.  Keep it up!
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Terry, I totally agree.  I hate buying fruits and veggies at a store where they are grown in bulk. I'm heading to a Farmer's Market this week...and a co-op in a few weeks to see if I can get some fruite the way I remember them as a kid.  Great points!
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Chris,  I would love to hear more about the people you have met and what they are doing.  It sounds fascinating!
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Hi Dena,  many of these were Dairy Farms that were mentioned.  But I totally agree.  Too bad people don't look more at the BIG PICTURE. 
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Thanks Brad!  I try to keep them interesting.  :)
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Gary,  LOL.  My husband loves the smell of farms.  He's so funny.
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Thanks Thesa,  I try.  :)
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Thanks Mary,  see you later!
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Rita,  That sounds fascinating!  Why don't you post on it...I would love to read about that.
Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago
Terri and Dena make great points. Do you know the demand on beef the U.S causes has rain forests in South America being turned into cattle grounds? On the same acre of land you can grow potatoes enough to feed a third world country. Being addicted to beef is the main cause of fertilizing cancer cells, causes heart diseases and colon problems, etc, the list goes on and on and puts a toll on our health care. The beef that is raised by these corperations is unhealthy and dirty, in the book, the Fast Food Nation much of this is exposed and the question is " Would you like some SH-- with your Beef? " Katerina
Posted by Nestor & Katerina Gasset Realtors® Wellington Florida Homes For Sale (International Properties and Investments, Inc.) over 4 years ago
Katrina, add to that the rain forest land is pretty much sterile and chemicals have to be added in gross amounts to make anything grow.  After a couple of years its totally dead and unusable.  All those old growth trees cut down for absolutely NOTHING.  Trees we will never be able to get back.
Posted by Terry Haugen STAGE it RIGHT! 321-956-2495 (Stage it Right!) over 4 years ago

Terry,  I do not know about that Rainforest issue.  Do you have a link for me to read on it?

Katerina,  LOL.  No, I don't want any of that with my beef.  All valid points.

Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, Realtor ® Spring/Woodlands, TX Real Estate (Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors ®) over 4 years ago

Steph,

Whooh, that is some interesting information! Cute comic as well. 

Posted by Gabe Swinney Asheville New Urbanism (Gabe Swinney) over 4 years ago

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