Cattle ranchers are some of the world's real environmentalists

In lieu of Earth Day on Thursday, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about some environmentalists in this area and around the country: America’s cattle ranchers. There has been some speculation out there that livestock production is producing a lot of greenhouse gases, particularly cattle production. A new study, “Clearing the Air” published in March by the University of California-Davis, found that the United Nations’ 2006 report titled, “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” had many inaccuracies. The main point is that the original report found that “ … livestock production accounts for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas, GHG, emissions.” But during that same time, other organizations, such as the World Resources Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency found that this number was actually between 5 and 6 percent. The study in March found that “In the United States, 2.8 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to livestock production, compared to 26 percent from transportation...more