Meat Is Methane

If you've heard the Smiths song "Meat Is Murder," you've probably also heard an animal rights case against eating meat. And recently, the health case for not eating industrially produced meat has become almost mainstream.

But there's another problem with meat: the potent greenhouse gas methane, which livestock emit when they belch. 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from farm animals, but unlike other GHG-intensive industries that are facing regulation, agriculture has thus far managed to keep itself above the fray.

At least one group of insiders is taking the issue seriously. AFP reports that the World Organization for Animal Health will study the role of meat-eating in climate change and publish results in the summer. The organization has, in the past, investigated only disease outbreaks.

Meat is becoming an ever-hotter topic as more and more residents of the economic bottle rockets China and India become affluent enough to eat it frequently.

Photo: blmurch