People eat. Animals eat. Our bodies break up the food we eat
into parts. Some parts give our bodies energy. Other parts we do not need.
One part that bodies do not need is a gas called methane. This
gas moves out of our bodies every day. One day of one person’s body gas could
fill two lunchtime milk cartons.
Cows move a lot more gas than people do. One day of one cow’s
gas could fill over 3000 lunchtime milk cartons! Some people are trying to use
this gas to make energy. One kind of energy is called electricity. We can burn
methane gas to make electricity. One day of the gas a cow makes can equal one
day of electricity for a refrigerator.
Human gas is much like cow gas. Someday, maybe we will use our
gas to make electricity, too!
Activities:
1. Explain methane gas to your partners in simple English. Why
did the scientists choose cow gas over human gas to make energy?
2. It is exciting to see animal gas turned into energy. Then how
about animals’ other waste, e.g., poop? How to turn them into power? Recycling waste not
only protects environment, but also creates a great fortune! Sweden is one of
the world champions in environment awareness and waste management. How does
Sweden turn its waste into gold? To learn about these, you might be interested in the following
videos.
