Just when you thought climate-change fanatics had reached peak insanity, word comes that none other than the heir to the British throne is backing a plan that would have cows wear special face masks to combat methane emitted by rumination.
A British startup company, Zelp, which designed the bovine mask, was recently awarded the Terra Carta Design Lab award, founded in part by the Prince of Wales along with designer Jony Ive.
“Agriculture is the largest source of methane from human activity. Corporations and governments are under pressure to minimize its effect on global warming. Eliminating the livestock industry is not a realistic solution,” the company’s website states. “Now there’s a way to reduce methane that’s good for the animals, the farmers who care for them, and the consumers.”
The proposed bovine mask weighs approximately 100 grams (approximately 3.5 oz), and contains solar powered fans intended to redirect methane emissions from cows chewing their cud into a chamber which chemically converts the methane into carbon dioxide and water vapor.
The inventors believe that the masks should filter about 30 percent of the ruminate methane produced by cows, and hope to reach 60 percent in future designs.
So, the device turns a minor greenhouse gas (methane) into other more potent greenhouse gasses (CO2 and H2O) and that’s supposed to help against global warming?
Zelp (which stands for Zero Emissions Livestock Project) was awarded a €58,000 (approximately $62,000) euro cash prize to help produce the new device. The new device is expected to cost livestock owners about €41 ($44) per cow per year.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to be associated with the Royal College of Art, particularly as a result of seeing the remarkable ideas presented by many of the alumni and existing students,” Prince Charles said at the event where the prizes were given out. “May I say that it is critical because of the urgency we face in terms of the crisis confronting us in all directions and just how important is what their ideas represent in terms of finding solutions rapidly.”
But putting masks on cows? Really? Not only does it sound ridiculous, it sounds rather inhumane.
“I feel rather sorry for the cow. Animals don’t tend to like wearing stuff on their faces if they can help it and I should think the first thing they are going to try and do is scrape that thing off on a fence post and the fields will be left full of plastic masks.” said British journalist Ross Clark, who added that cows “got to be able to eat and breathe.”
Clark also noted that the device does nothing to stop methane emissions from the animals’ other end.
“When methane’s emitting from the mouth you can’t sort of cover the whole thing which is why this device has only really claimed to capture 60 percent of the methane emitted through a cow’s mouth and nothing out the rear end,” Clark stated.
Franciso Norris, the inventor of the mask, assures everyone, “it doesn’t bother them [the cows] at all.”
Other critics focused on the absurdity of what the Prince of Wales thought could help the climate.
Twitter user Perry Lucas summed it up well, saying “Our future King, Prince Charles backs a face mask device for cows that catches Methane emissions in order to stop climate change. Jesus….what is he smoking? Truly are living in clown world.”
Meanwhile, many climate scientists — even climate-fanatic scientists — have dismissed the notion that a trace gas such as methane has much, if any, effect on global warming. Some climate modelers have even omitted it from their models.
Physicist Dr. Tom Sheahen points out that any effect that methane (CH4) might have is essentially canceled out by water vapor already in the atmosphere.
“The ratio of the percentages of water to methane is such that the effects of CH4 are completely masked by H2O. The amount of CH4 must increase 100-fold to make it comparable to H2O,” Sheahen notes.
It’s germane to point out that Prince Charles is a high-profile proponent of the so-called Great Reset, a plan pushed by the World Economic Forum that would have the common people move on to other sources of protein rather than livestock. Insects, for instance, are good enough for us.
The same people are proposing huge new taxes on meat, which could eventually make it unaffordable to the masses.
