Ask most Americans about what causes global warming, and they'll point to a coal plant smokestack or a car's tailpipe. They're right, of course, but Perhaps two other images should be granted similarly iconic status: the front and rear ends of a cow. According to a little-known 2006 United Nations report entitled Livestock's Long Shadow," live-stock is a major player in climate change, accounting for 18 per- cent of all greenhouse gas emissions (measured in carbon dioxide equivalents). That's more than the entire transportation system! Unfortunately, this incredibly important revelation has received only limited attention in the media. How could methane from cows, goats, sheep and other livestock have such a huge impact? As Chris Goodall points out in his book How to Live a Low-Carbon Life (Earthscan Publications), "Ruminant animals [chewing a cud], such as cows and sheep, produce methane as a result of the digestive process...Dairy cows are particularly important sources of methane because of the volume of food, both grass and processed material, that they eat."
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