Up to the minute Amber Alert Information

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Auto is off the Hook

Norway's Moose Population in Trouble for Belching
The poor old Scandinavian moose is now being blamed for climate change, with researchers in Norway claiming that a grown moose can produce 2,100 kilos of methane a year -- equivalent to the CO2 output resulting from a 13,000 kilometer car journey.

Norway is concerned that its national animal, the moose, is harming the climate by emitting an estimated 2,100 kilos of carbon dioxide a year through its belching and farting.

Norwegian newspapers, citing research from Norway's technical university, said a motorist would have to drive 13,000 kilometers in a car to emit as much CO2 as a moose does in a year.

Much like cows (more...), bacteria in a moose's stomach create methane gas which is considered even more destructive to the environment than carbon gas. Cows pose the same problem.

Norway has some 120,000 moose but an estimated 35,000 are expected to be killed in this year's moose hunting season, which starts on September 25, Norwegian newspaper VG reported.


Source: Spiegel Online.

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It's a relief to know that a natural engine emits carbon dioxide and methane just like an unnatural internal combustion engine!

But notice how poorly this article is written. Compare the first and third paragraphs. The third paragraph relates the CO2 production of the moose and a car, a proper comparison. The introducing first paragraph improperly compares methane production from a moose and carbon dioxide production from a car.

That is what is called comparing apples and oranges.

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August 23rd Update

Upon returning to the above web site, I discovered the first paragraph in this article was corrected to read "carbon dioxide" rather than "methane" without any notation that it was adjusted. This article has generated comments from all over the blogosphere.

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