Whenever Roger Harrabin appears on the Today programme my hackles rise.
His latest appearance, on this morning's edition, left me fully hackled up to my eye-brows - and beyond. I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing.
Roger's latest dispatch revived the old story of methane from flatulent cows causing climate change, but added the inevitable BBC spin to it.
A new project in Fife, backed by the SNP government in Scotland, is seeking to harness the farts of various breeds of cattle (including Highland cattle and Aberdeen Angus) to boost electricity supplies in a wholly renewable, environmentally-friendly way.
Scientists at the University of Strathclyde and the University of East Anglia have teamed up to create a miniature wild turbine (barely a few inches across) which can be attached to a cow's tale and, thereby, catch it farts. These can then be linked up to the national grid, through what Nicola Sturgeon (ignoring the contribution of the East Anglians) described as "the wonders of Scottish technology".
A spokesman from one of the renewables companies involved told Roger Harrabin that half a dozen farts from a single adult cow could provide an hour of electricity to hundred of homes.
George Monbiot told Roger that such miniature wind turbines, if given sufficient funding by the government, could then be extended beyond the bovine gas producers.
He even speculated that re-introduced wild wolves and lynx could do their bit for the planet if tiny wind turbines were also fixed to their tails - and, in time, humans too (via some kind of girdle).
He even speculated that re-introduced wild wolves and lynx could do their bit for the planet if tiny wind turbines were also fixed to their tails - and, in time, humans too (via some kind of girdle).
Frankly, I remain deeply sceptical about all of this.
Happy April 1st.
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