Different announcer earth focus is made possible in part by a grant from anne ray foundation, a margaret a. Cargill philanthropy; the Orange County community foundation; and the farvue foundation. Man so this is a tradition here. We put cups in the freezer, best way to drink milk. [cows mooing] one thing ive learned about cows here, of which about 2,500 are milking and then you have a dry period, in a perfect world, 60 days. [cows mooing] she has a calf, and then she produces milk again for another year. [whistles] lot of our milk gets made into butter. And then some of our milk also goes to making mozzarella cheese. Theres a good chance youre tasting some of our milk every day. [engine starts] he likeshe likes driving papa around. Im justim teaching him for later when ill actually need a driver. Youre gonna go out the same way. Go slow. You know, a few years ago, california adopted a regulation that really forced our industry to start looking at ways to mitigate the methane that comes off or out of the cow. You never want to get more regulations thrown on top of you. Theyre extremely hard to deal with, and sometimes you cant deal with them. Everybodys kind of grappling. Cows make manure every day and very consistently do. Cow eats, you know, dry matterwise, were around 50 to 60 pounds a day. So, you know, all that goes in one end, makes a little bit of milk, and a lot of it comes out. I probably maybe underestimated what the potential is for methane going into the environment. You know, we could easily ignore stuff like this, but were a generational family. We live on our farms. We want to take care of the water, we want to take care of the air cause were trying to do something that is gonna be positive for my facility, for our industry, and for the environment. Having said that, we have to stay economically viable or im not in business. Reporter governor jerry brown today signed a bill regulating emissions from dairy cows and landfills to fight Climate Change beyond carbonbased Greenhouse Gases. Now, the bill mandates a 40 reduction in methane and hydrofluoric carbon by 2030. Lara weill reduce methane emissions 40 , reducing organic waste in landfills and working with our dairy industry to reduce emissions from cows and manure. Man when manure sits in a deep pond, a naturallyoccurring bacteria that work in a cows stomach, or actually in a cows 4 stomachs, those same bacteria keep eating the left over little bits of sugar and other calories, and they emit biogas, which is a combination of methane and co2. Both of those are Greenhouse Gases. And one cow tends to have about 4 to 5 tons per year of co2 equivalent. If you want to look at it that way, essentially its about the same Greenhouse Gas footprint as a vehicle, as a car. We are a Dairy Digester Development and operations company. A dairy digester is a piece of equipment that processes dairy manure and extracts methane gas, which is essentially a naturallyoccurring biogas that vents out of manure. A digesters just a device for capturing that gas so it doesnt vent into the air, but instead can be used usefully. And so if you capture it, you get a twofer. You get to prevent the gases from escaping into the environment and you have a usable fuel. So all weve done here is weve taken a normalsized manure pond which has a whole bunch of liquid manure, weve covered it up with a flexible membrane so that theres no oxygen. And those little bacteria in there, they think theyre still in a cows stomach. Thats why we call it a digester. They eat the remaining calories, they emit methane gas, which rises to the top, that we capture, preventing the Greenhouse Gases from escaping into the air, and being able to use that gas as a fuel for other uses now. Shyler we get biogas from nearby dairies. Most recently we laid in a pipeline that will collect biogas from 11 or more local dairies, digesters at local dairies. And then we use it as it this Production Facility for fuel, or in some cases, we turn that renewable natural gas into a fuel directly. Manure is important to the dairies. They use the nutrient value. These are dairy farms. They really are. Theres a symbiotic relationship. They grow a lot of their own food. The nutrients they get from manure are important for that. So this is a little bit like making lemonade t of lemons. In my view, its better than that. Its kind of like making lemonade out of, i dont know, lemon waste. Its pretty cool. Maas joey arios a dairy producer, one of the first families, actually, to put in a dairy facility in this particular area of the county. And so we need the producers to make this work. We want as many healthy, stable producers around, and joey was the first one in this particular area. So were building out to him and were building to the neighbors as fast as we can. Arioso we use clean water to flush the calves. And then this water will go out to our pond. Well use it to flush the lanes and the milk cows. And then after we separate, itll eventually come back into the digester. And then after that, well use it to irrigate with. So itseverything around hereall the water on the farm is recycled 3 to 4 times. Maas when we approach a dairy, we explain to them their options. We come together with design, we oversee construction, and then we operate the facility. Lyle and Calgren Renewable Fuels are partnering this project. Theyve got the lead of the actual gas cleanup operations. So essentially, we deliver them the raw gas by working with the dairies, and they process the gas and get it into the pipeline on their plant. Shyler one of the options for using that biogas is to turn it into cngcompressed natural gas. Maas so our final end product is natural gas. Its biologically no different than natural gas that flows in the pipes to your house. It can be used for a variety of things, but were going to use it for, and what we are using it for, is vehicle fuel. Arioso its really simple on the farm. We have a covered lagoon. We capture the gas from the cow. They dry it just a bit here, and then they push it to calgren, and then they do all the extra stuff, cleaning and everything that they need to do to make it where they can resell or reuse the gas on their own facility. So it just made a lot of sense. Maas the state of california has set a target that they want to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions across the state, and its particularly from the dairy industry. They want a 40 reduction by about the middle of the next decade. And its a carrot and stick approach. They said to the dairy industry, if you will voluntarily install these facilities and meet that goal, then thats great. If you dont, well probably regulate you. And so the dairy industry, working with our industry and others, have all found a way to make these projects profitable so the farmers can afford to put these in, can generate some revenue by doing it, and hopefully forestall some regulation as well. Arioso short term, of course youve got to pay for the initial investment. But from our standpoint, we didnt have to put a lot of capital out. The main thing i was worried about was making sure that if i do this, the state will recognize that ive mitigated my methane problem on my farm. Maas a facility like this on the dairy farm runs in the neighborhood of a few million dollars, depending on the size of the dairy. The state of california had some Funds Available that have been very beneficial in getting more farmers to invest and reducing that capital cost. Arioso if there is a positive note to this regulation, th are willing to help our industry mitigate it, you know, with some dollars and then, you know, some science that, you know, on technology as weve just put in to help mitigate the problem. Its not just the milk now. You know, i keep saying the milk because thatsevery month when i sit down to pay my bills, you know, up till 3 months ago, it was only my milk check. Now, you know, its the gas. The cows actually gonna create another form of income, you know, really driven by amazing technology. Maas the amount of revenue a digester can create for a farmer depends on the financial arrangements. But in general, it can produce a 6figure income to the farm. So hes generating new revenue without taking additional risk. And it makes it a lot easier when you go back to the state and ask to expand your dairy or ask to change your operations because youve shown that youre already progressive and youre already ahead of the curve implementing environmental protections. Arioso you have make sure you comply with the newer regulations, otherwise your farm becomes worthless. And so, my intent was to preserve the value of my farm. And even though were 3 months into it, it looks pretty promising so far. Maas i think the main reason a dairy farmer wouldnt do this is if they arent certain about the future of the dairy itself, which is really the question facing a lot of families is, can they continue to be competitive in california, in the modern economy. And thats hard to do. It takes scale, it takes efficiency. It takes a lot of things, investment in new technology. Many farms would like to keep milking cows as long they could, but not every family can. Arioso a cow is really an unbelievable creature. I mean, they consume tremendous amounts of byproducts that would be waste products, you know. Theyre able to convert that into milk and beef and now gas. Maas this is easily the Largest Dairy biogas project in the united states. 34 million gallons of fuel a year is what we think well produce, and well go up from there. So this digester, in terms of Greenhouse Gas impacts, would have the same impact as removing over 3,000 cars from the road. This is what we hope is the newest growth of the industry to try to produce more and more gas from americas dairies. Arioso this gives us a way to tell our story and, you know, add to the story. You know, weve had kind of the same story for a long time, and we can protecthe environment, but also, you know, kind of continue down this path of energy independence, the next technology that can make, you know, our farms more efficient and more environmentally protective. Shyler i think that dairies in california have gone through ups and downs. Mostly recently its been tough times for them. Marns havent been there. This is an opportunity for them to kind of expand a little bit. In a way, they are entering the energy business, which is kind of cool. Arioso im pretty blessed. I mean, we have 4 generations on the farm. My dad is still here. He just turned 80. You know, and my grandson wont really appreciate this until later. Having said that, i want the next generation to know the potential is unlimited on what you can do with what youre doing. You know, dont ever get short sighted and think that, you know, alls he can do is get milk out of a cow. This is gonna be another way of making her more efficient, and its pretty amazing. Narrator californians concerned about Climate Change are searching for ways to reduce methane that stem from the states more than 5. 2 million cows. By contrast, east african farmers facing historic drought are turning to a traditional alternative to quench their thirst. [camels vocalizing] [laughter] [speaking native language] [children singing] warsame i live in the u. S. , in the state of georgia for the last 20 years. And i was a real estate attorney, so i can sell ice to an eskimo. Camel milk is the next generation dairy. Thats what i believe. Most of the people are going healthy at the moment. And they believe that, you know, camel milk is medicinal. As a result of that, a lot of rich people or middle upper class are drinking it. And mostly theyre being prescribed by their doctors. We are working with universities and also research centers. They come here every 3 months. They come and check samples of milk. And now we are working with the allergy doctors in lactose intolerance. Those one, they are responding very positively. We havent exported yet, but i will be very glad if i see my product on any supermarket on the shelf. That way i will know that i made it. [horn honks] man from an early age, i was very interested in the deserts. During the teenage years, i used to spend a lot of time in northern kenya. And then i ended up doing 7 Years Research on camel milk production. Theres quite a long history with camels in the family. Yeah, long may it last. The body of research is now beginning to show the benefits of drinking camels milk. Weve also done some work here in kenya looking at diabetics. Although we couldnt prove it statistically, it was definitely an improvement in blood sugar control. And thats another thing with camels milk, it has a very high vitamin c content. So for societies who dont normally eat fruit or vegetables, thats where theyve been getting their vitamin c sources and have been perfectly healthy all this time. On the other side, some of the benefits you might have heard is that it has a slimming effect, that it has good effect on cholesterol and obesity. And so you may find that it could actually so benefitutrition issues in the western world. Because of this long history of the benefits of drinking camels milk, were seeing more and more urban people taking an interest in buying camels milk. Man were in nairobi cbd, actually, the Central Business district, at a somali restaurant. You ask for tea, theyll just bring you a camel tea without even asking. Man we have so many rather different types of products being taken out of this milk, camel milk. For example, weve got yogurt, weve got the carmel latte, which is loved specifically by the somalis. Ahmed it helps with my digestion. And, you know, i feel energized. And you can actually feel it instantly. When you drink, that day youll actually feel it, like its a detox. Simpkin with the human population growth globally, the world has been more intensification in terms of producing food for humans. We all know the impa of livestock in terms of being blamed for global warming. In some countries, theres gonna be less rainfall or higher variability in the rainfall. And the camel is going to be one of the best adapted animals to deal with that. So really they are an animal of the future. Announcer earth focus is made possible in part by a grant from anne ray foundation, a margaret a. Cargill philanthropy; the Orange County community foundation; and the farvue foundation. 11 23 20 11 23 20 [captioning made possible by democracy now ] amy from new york, this is democracy now as President Trump continues his unprecedented attempt to stay in the white house despite losing the election, we look at how voters are fighting back and how trumps legal team is losing in the courts. We will speak to Emily Bazelon of the New York Times and the therend wendell anthony, head of the naacp in detroit, who recently lamst