Scientific Report: Roaches and Termites Among Leading Causes of Methane Gas

In a scholarly report published by Science.org (officially known as the American Association for the Advancement of Science), I’ve come to find out that cows need to move over.

Turns out that termites are a major contributor to pumping methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Termites may emit large quantities of methane, carbon dioxide, and molecular hydrogen into the atmosphere. Global annual emissions calculated from laboratory measurements could reach 1.5 × 10¹⁴ grams of methane.

With the understanding that 10¹⁴ is 1 followed by 14 zeros, 1.5 × 10¹⁴ grams of methane equals 1.5 billion kilograms, which equates to 150 million metric tons of methane gas.

Now let’s talk about how much carbon dioxide those lil’ wood eaters contribute to global warming.

The same scholarly article cites of termites creating;

5 × 10¹⁶ grams of carbon dioxide.

Using the same math, 5 × 10¹⁶ grams of carbon dioxide equates to 50 billion kilograms.

Fifty billion kilograms equates to 50 million metric tons.

That’s right, gang. Termites pump 50 million tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere.

But wait… there’s more. Now let’s talk about cockroaches.

In less-than-scholarly postings by both WonderList.com and also by UniqueFumigation.com (sorry, couldn’t find any specifics by government or university sources), a singular roach pumps “up to 35g of methane a year.”

A mere 35 grams? That certainly isn’t much. But how many roaches are on the planet at any given time?

The everything-exterminator website, AboutPalmettoBug.com cites;

“Recently entomologists estimated that approximately 1 to 2.8 trillion cockroaches are found worldwide at a single time.”

With the truth usually found somewhere in the middle, I’ll go with 1.9 trillion.

So, 35 grams multiplied by 1.9 trillion is 66.5 trillion grams. Converting to kilograms, 66.5 trillion grams is 66.5 billion.

Hold on to your hats, 66.5 million metric tons of methane are added by roaches to global warming.

So just in termites and cockroaches, the total of methane contributed to global warming is 216.5 million tons.

In the meantime, the University of Colorado warns of the 80 million metric tons of cow farts and burps globally. I’ll repeat… GLOBALLY.

Just termites and roaches contribute 270 percent more in methane than do those evil bovines.

So, to those idiot lefties that demand we all eat bugs, the only thing I have to say to them is bon appétit.