Palm | Kelapa Sawit

 by Natalia Sudol

 When one thinks of emissions, themind of most quickly comes up with an image of a big SUV car or a huge truck.Not many think of dairy farms, which are responsible for 18% of the green houseemissions.  Dairy farms emissions consistof making the products such as cheese or milk, but also taking care of theanimals and their waste. [Cows produce 120 pounds of waste per cow per day.According to the article linked below.] Most farms are unaware of how muchdamage they are causing to the environment as whole or even to the townssurrounding them. One of the biggest dairy farms in the United States called Threemile Canyon Farms islocated 160 milesaway from Portland, OR.

The next question that one mighthave after learning about how dairy farms affect the environment is whether anythingis being done about this issue. J-U-B Engineers Inc. of Boisetook this issue seriously and designed a machine that is able to use some ofthe waste created by the animals and creation of dairy products and convertingthat into fuel for some of the machines used at the farms.  So far the experimental trials of this machinewere conducted at the Threemile Canyon Farms and have proven to significantlylower the emissions.

The issue that has presented itselfafter the design was completed was who was going to pay to have these machinescreated for all the dairy farms in the United States. Some local dairy farms have takenaction and have been collecting donations. Also some bigger corporations, suchas NW Natural have asked their customers to contribute to this cause byincreasing their utility bill by 6$.

What one can hope is that in thenearest future, the biodigester machine trials will be completed and themachine will become available to all dairy farms in an effort to reduce theemissions created by these farms. As this issue becomes more popular in themedia, more supporters of this new way of helping the environment will gainsupporters and hopefully financial donations will start flowing in thedirection of the smaller local farms which can not afford such expensivemachinery at their farms. 

1. Dairy farms are responsible for a huge amount of greenhousegas emissions.

2. Biggest dairy farm is in Oregon,meaning it produces more greenhouse gas emissions than smaller dairy farms.

3. Green house emissions affects everyone, whether one liveswithin a 10 mileradius or on the east coast.  

4. If we bring attention to this issue, more people willknow about it and will be able to help out in any way possible to get thesemachines into dairy farms across the United States, thus lessening the green houseemissions.

 

For more information about this issue check out these articles: