Report: Animal Agriculture Significant for Climate Change

According to a report issued today by environmental group EarthSave International, cars and power plants – the traditional targets of environmentalists – will not be a major cause of global warming in our lifetime. Rather, the most significant source of climate change over the next half-century is likely animal agriculture. Because carbon dioxide makes up the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, environmentalists have focused on its main sources: cars and power plants. The report points out that other gases, produced in smaller amounts but far more powerful at trapping heat, actually cause the majority of the earth’s warming. Moreover, because the cars and power plants that emit carbon dioxide also emit climate-cooling aerosols, they are responsible for little to no net warming today. The report’s data analysis, based on the work of leading climate scientists, shows that methane sources – not carbon dioxide sources – are the biggest cause of global warming today, and will continue to be for the next 50 years. The number one human-related source of methane worldwide is livestock, the report says. “This reveals an untapped opportunity to make serious and rapid progress in reducing dangerous global warming trends,” said Noam Mohr, author of the report. […]

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