Trying To OutSmart God

Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos Pour Millions into a ‘Climate Vaccine’ for Cows to Stop Farts and Burps in the Name of Fighting Climate Change

Billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are investing heavily in a contentious project aimed at creating "climate vaccines" for livestock to reduce methane emissions from cattle, thereby addressing climate change. Critics argue this represents an effort by wealthy elites to exert control over the food supply and push forward their environmental agendas onto the agricultural sector.

Boston-based biotech company ArkeaBio has secured $26.5 million in venture capital to develop a vaccine for reducing methane in cattle. The initiative is spearheaded by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a fund founded by Bill Gates, as reported by Axios. Additional funding came from groups such as the Grantham Foundation and AgriZeroNZ, highlighting a collaborative effort from environmentally-focused organizations to influence farming practices.

Chris Rivest, chairman of ArkeaBio's board, has described the vaccine as a significant step forward in reducing emissions, presenting it as an extension of current cattle vaccination practices, according to Climate Solutions.

Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos's Earth Fund has committed $9.4 million to a parallel initiative, working alongside the Royal Veterinary College and the Pirbright Institute. Their objective is to reduce methane emissions by more than 30% using advanced biotechnological methods like genetically modified bacteria and antibody research.

Dr. Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund, highlights this research as a potential game-changer in the fight against climate change. He emphasizes the effectiveness of vaccines in health applications and their potential to significantly lower emissions if applied to cattle.

Livestock, especially cattle, are a major source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The Bezos Earth Fund and the Global Methane Hub support multiple strategies to mitigate these emissions, including genetic selection for low-methane traits, enhanced feeding practices, and improved ranch management. However, a vaccine could provide a scalable, cost-effective solution that could be easily integrated into current farming practices.

The research project involves:

Early Development of Immune Response: Studying how methane-producing microbes establish in calves and how their immune systems react, using advanced techniques for deeper insights.

Antibody Response and Vaccine Development: Identifying and developing specific antibodies to combat methanogens, with the aim of proving the concept for a methane-reducing vaccine.

If these efforts succeed, they could transform methane management in agriculture, offering a solution to one of the significant sources of greenhouse gases.

This initiative aligns with a wider trend where climate change is cited as a reason to alter global food production systems. Gates's previous acquisition of vast amounts of farmland in the U.S. has already raised concerns about the concentration of agricultural power, and these new ventures only heighten those worries.