I was reading the NZ Herald yesterday and came across an article titled Cows , not cars, top threat to environment, says UN report.

Some key takeways:

Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

[Growing meat and everything it entails] produces 9 per cent of all emissions of carbon dioxide

their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.

It makes for interesting (and possibly shocking) reading for those of you who, like me, are starting to become more aware of environmental issues from a personal level. The big question for me that comes directly from the article is Will I create a more positive impact on the environment if I choose not to eat beef or drink cow’s milk than if I sold my car?

There seems to be a focus on transport as the main culprit and the key to solving climate change. Whether that is an accurate reflection of the work, research, and literature on climate change, I don’t know. But I definitely feel it from the (sensationalist) media and the general public.

It also makes me wonder about opponents to the colloquially known “Fart Tax” and whether facts like these were included in the debate - I somehow doubt it. As a nation of 10 million cows we need to get real about the actual cost of producing and consuming our bovine friends.

I don’t for a second believe that the answer is to kill all cows or any suggestion like that. As Al Gore said rather eloquently towards the end of An Inconvenient Truth, the answer lies in making savings and efficiencies in everything across the board rather than searching for that one single silver bullet. If we can reduce the effect cows are having on our environment through smarter and more realistic consumption then we will find ourselves much closer to the goal of reducing emmissions to pre-gluttonous levels.

And hey, we might find people have a few less heart attacks as a result. We definitely need to see more debate on this.

Update: Catching up on RSS feeds I see the Celsias blog has already talked about cows