Marine ecologist Jennifer Smith is working on cultivating a type of seaweed with the potential to be a climate change solution. When fed to cows, the seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis can generate a 95% reduction in methane produced by the bacteria that help with ruminant digestion in livestock.
Cows, sheep, goats, and buffalo burp out the methane equivalent of over three gigatons of carbon dioxide per year. The livestock industry emits an equivalent amount of greenhouse gasses as the entire global transportation industry.
In this video, produced by Scripps Oceanography and UC San Diego, Dr. Smith discusses her role in advancing the cultivation of Asparagopsis, and its potential for scalability. With the help of scientists, entrepreneurs, startups, philanthropists, and investors, we can grow enough of this red seaweed to have an impact.
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