The cause of the world's problems isn't rich families of Chelsea after all, it is the rear end of a cow

I love it when a story like this comes along. Partly because it really upsets all the enviro-scaremongerers who seem happier to hear that the world is doomed rather than hear some balance to the debate. It turns out that cows and sheep and doing more damage to the environment than 4x4s or "Chelsea Tractors". Actually, this isn't new news at all, but the green nutters wouldn't want anyone to know this, because Chelsea tractors are evil. I, too, don't see the point of having a Range Rover Discovery to navigate your way round the mean streets of Chelsea - but I don't see the point in Le Tour de France either, but I hardly think that is grounds for banning it. I have seen clips of "holier than thou" green "activists" jumping in front of these monster trucks whilst mummy is just trying to drop Bertie off at the school gate and bang on the bonnet and shout slogans like "The end is nigh" or something... If they did that to me I think I'd run them down.

Anyway, the cause of the world's problems are not the rich families of Chelsea after all, it is the rear end of a cow. It seems that the cheap shots that the government like to put over on the easy targets will have to cease or at least tone down. For every day every one of Britain’s 10 million cows pumps out an estimated 100-200 litres of methane. This is the equivalent of up to 4,000 grams of carbon dioxide and compares with the 3,419g of carbon dioxide pumped out by a Land Rover Freelander on an average day’s drive of 33 miles.(Far more than the two mile journey up the King's Road these Chelsea tractors are taking). OK, they shouldn't be making the journey at all if they could, like the rest of us, get on a bus - but it's a smokescreen issue in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, the solution is being sought by scientists who believe that the key is to reduce the methane from livestock is by making the diet of the cattle and sheep more easily digestible. The team of scientists, funded by Defra, believe that farmers will need to be shown additional advantages if they are to be persuaded to go to the expense of introducing new strains. The £750,000 project, led by the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, will run for three years and will also consider how emissions of nitrogen, another greenhouse gas, can be reduced in livestock. A good use if government money? We'll have to see the results - I can imagine there are better incentives than government grants though. Either way, at least they are tackling proper issues and not blaming all the world's problems on man made global warming for a change.