Are cows responsible for global warming?

The scientific data is undeniable and conclusive confirming that farming has a major impact on global warming and climate change. With increased prosperity and population, the demand for dairy products and meats keeps growing and growing. Global meat production is increasing at unprecedented rates in order to meat the high demand from meat addicted consumers. In 1999/2001 meat production was around 229 million tons and these numbers are expected to climb to about 465 million tons by 2050. The same scenario is happening with milk output as it is expected to climb from 580 to 1043 million tons.

Studies show that a cow an average releases between 70 and 120 kg of methane per year. Methane is a greenhouse gas more harmful than carbon dioxide. Scientific evidence suggests that methane is 23 times more harmful than CO2 emissions. World-wide, there are about 1.5 billion cows and bulls emitting roughly 2 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year. Adding to this problem, the farming industry has to to clear tropical forest and rain forests to get more grazing and farm lands available for the animals. These actions are adding about 2.8 billion metric tons of CO2 emission per year.

Livestock is using about 30 percent of the earth's entire land surface. As the demand for meat keeps growing, more lands are cleared and entire rain forests are being destroyed. This is very true specially in many Latin American nation who lack the resources and political will to prevent this from happening. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) agriculture output is responsible for close to 20 percent of the total release of greenhouse gases world-wide. The data suggests that this output must be reduced significantly and find ways to enforce regulations in order to save our planet.

So, what can we do to reduce greenhouse? we all can eat less meat and dairy products. This is one of the most effective ways to reduce our own personal carbon footprint and therefore contribute to reduce the amounts of greenhouse gases harming our planet.