Moderation is good, and here’s why: According to a report from www.SaveEarth.org, methane is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together. While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31 percent since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than doubled.

Methane is produced by a number of sources, including coal mining and landfills, the report says, but the No. 1 source worldwide is animal agriculture. That industry produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. And it’s on the rise: global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past 50 years and shows little sign of abating.

About 85 percent of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock, and while a single cow releases a relatively small amount of methane, the collective effect on the environment of the hundreds of millions of livestock animals worldwide is enormous.

“An additional 15 percent of animal agricultural methane emissions are released from the massive ‘lagoons’ used to store untreated farm animal waste,” the report says, “already a target of environmentalists for their role as the No. 1 source of water pollution in the U.S.”
In short, industrial animal agriculture isn’t good for the earth.

Some people have chosen to stop eating meat for this reason, and some have cut down on their meat consumption. Others have chosen to get their meat from small, local farms instead. What's your solution?