May'19 Board Book

It started with the release of a fact sheet outlining the much-debated resolution’s key points. Shortly after Ocasio-Cortez’s office released the document, her office said it was a draft published by mistake, and retracted it . By then, she was already getting dragged for some of its proposals. That very public resistance has only increased over the last month.

If you don’t hear about cow farts anymore from AOC, it may not be because of GOP criticism.

Some of the fact sheet’s most controversial language, it turned out, wasn’t about planet- warming carbon dioxide—the kind released when fossil fuels like gasoline, coal, and oil are burned—but methane, specifically the kind that comes from animal digestion. The since-deleted document proposed a goal of taking America carbon-neutral in ten years, noting that a more aggressive timeline isn’t possible because “we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.” That particular line set off a firestorm from the right. President Trump interpreted it to mean that Americans wouldn’t be able to “own cows anymore.” Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming said it meant goodbye “ to dairy, to beef, to family farms, to ranches.” Then AOC went on TV and defended it . As it turns out, neither side was accurate. Republicans are likely to continue linking Green New Deal priorities to a supposed hamburger ban. But if you don’t hear about cow farts anymore from AOC, it may not be because of GOP criticism. Frank Mitloehner, an animal scientist and air quality specialist at the University of California, Davis, insists cattle flatulence isn’t the problem it’s made out to be, and says he helped set the record straight. Here’s what seems to have happened. On February 4, shortly before Ocasio-Cortez announced the Green New Deal, she was speaking to school children in Queens, New York. When one asked how they could “combat” climate change, Ocasio-Cortez offered two practical options—stop using disposable razors, and skip meat and dairy for one meal.

Mitloehner tweeted at her.

“Dear @AOC: we all try to help the climate,” he wrote . “However, the two options you offered have low impacts compared to the 800lb gorilla, which is to reduce fossil fuel use. About ⅔ of greenhouse gas emissions in the US stem from transport and energy prod&use. Meat/milk = 4 % of total GHG,” referring to findings in a recent EPA report .

“I give her team a lot of credit for reaching out.”

Mitloehner says his tweet got the attention of the think tank that advises Ocasio-Cortez on climate policy. Last month, he says, he was contacted by Anna Scanlon, who runs outreach at New Consensus, a policy group that helped write the Green New Deal for the congresswoman’s office. Why were they reaching out to him? Because the non-binding resolution calls for removing as many greenhouse gas emissions from the farm sector, which represent 9 percent of those total emissions in America, “as is technologically feasible.” Mitloehner, who studies how cattle emissions contribute to air quality, is well-liked by the meat