Cow belching has recently become central in climate change research. Cows and sheep produce tons of methane, a gas that contributes to global warming 84 times more than CO2 does, so, scientists are trying to figure out how these emissions can be curbed to make farming more competitive in a world with higher environmental standards.
BBC News has recently published the article How New Zealand is reducing methane emissions from farming, which looks into the latest scientific techniques to measure methane emissions in cows and explores changes in emission reduction policy in New Zealand, a cow and sheep farming country. This long article is tough, and only suitable for C2 learners and Experts for a number of reasons: ordinary language learners will not be very familiar with the complexity of its technical and legal content, and the language is a challenging mixture of different registers (scientific, technical, legal and political): it begins with very precise language to describe the methane emission monitoring device for cows, and moves on to describe emission reduction technologies, in a formal, dense, almost academic style, while, in earlier paragraphs, it also adds some light-hearted words to entice the general public to start reading it.
In the story you will find a rich set of words like: [to reach] a goal, to curb [emissions], a hood, to scoop up, a pellet, to chew, to flick [his ears], to exhale, a contraption, high-tech, to cook up, to be laced with, the digestive tract, to hoover up, a fan, a gallon, a device, to snack, a burp, to churn out, livestock, to scrutinise, mischief, to be enticed, tasty, a hay cube, a lolly, a barn [stay], [food] intake, weight gain, a cattle breeding [cooperative], and counting, a first step in, to curtail [emissions], an [unusual emissions] profile, to hang around, to tackle a [powerful] lever, to sign up to [a pledge], to focus on, to plug a leak, an oil field, [a gas] pipeline, to brew, a niche, to punch above its weight, biogenic [methane], waste, to be consistent with [global efforts], an [international] commitment, to unveil [its strategy], greenhouse gases, a low-emissions [future], an [important] player, a chunk [of the pie], a pricing scheme, to boost, mitigation tech [development], the demise, a shift in policy, gene editing [technology], [to have] what it takes, to harness [scientific tools], a [methane-blocking] vaccine, a silver bullet, to seek, to fund, the inception, [scientifically] challenging, a shortfall in [feasible options], an [available] approach, to milk, a set of [technologies], the [2030- 2040] bracket, to pay dividends, to be likely, to make the grade, a feed-additive, feedlot [animals], tricky [to implement], grazing, to munch [grass], to figure out, [economically] viable, a holy grail, long-lasting, pasture, elusive, the toolbox, [methane] outputs, [dairy] herd, [to verify] the trait, to breed, a low-emitting cow, a [gut] bug, feed, to be underway, sired, to be monitored, a curveball, to handle, a painstaking [process], to yield, a flock [of sheep], fatty [acid], [the spectre] to loom [large], a levy, to date back to [2003], a [fart tax] furore, a misnomer, a cowpat, to lobby, to be roped into, an outlier [industry], to campaign on [a promise], to secure [a deal], [well-thought-through] policy, to achieve [climate targets], input, a scheme, to be meant to [come into effect], to fall over, expertise, emissions pricing policy, a delay, damaging, to catch up, costly, to reward, invidious, to focus on [mitigation], to level the playing field, to dip [by 1.4%], a blip, a [stubborn] plateau, a [new] trend, to be offset, [not to be] on track, [to meet] the overall [emissions], to result in [reductions], [to be] steadfast in [its commitment to the Paris agreement], a keystone [climate policy], to be set to [be discarded], work-in-progress, proven [interventions], to be up to [the new government], to heed [the commission's advice], to fail [to meet], carbon credits.
That vocabulary and a first reading of the previous article can be an introduction to help students understand some of the following videos about the same topic. Vice News thoroughly explained in July 2023 the confronting political views and the science of the issue in a very informal and funny report, which features ordinary New Zealanders speaking with their local accents in the video "Are Cow Burps Destroying New Zealand?" (16:21), the video has subtitles and a helpful transcription for C1 learners, and has been copied at the bottom of this entry. Vox News explains the basic chemistry of the issue in the video "Cow burps are a climate problem. Can seaweed help?" (5:58), which can also be watched at C1 level with English subtitles. Finally, the potential of the cow belching problem to develop brand new high-tech tools can be fully appreciated in the Reuters story "Satellites measure cow belches from space" (2:23), which can also be accessible to C1 students with the English subtitles.