Mother Jones reprinted a story from Slate this week on the contribution of burning yak dung to climate change in the Himalayas. Traditionally, Tibetans have burned dried yak dung to keep their houses warm during the long harsh winter. However, the burning fuel creates a lot of indoor air pollution as well emits a lot of carbon dioxide. In fact, the amount that is being put out is a significant fraction of the overall global emissions, considering how small the population there is. One obvious solution might be to get the Tibetans to get their heat from somewhere else. However, other options are much more costly and are not traditional, which means there is a lot of opposition to using them. Besides, as one person quoted in the article said, “what are they going to do with all the dung?” The article points out the problems with making changes in agricultural practices to reduce carbon emissions and that any changes that are made need to consider not just carbon but economics and other factors. You can read the article here.
