Question

There are certain people who believe that global warming may in fact be true, but at our current rate it is too late to do anything about it. Suggesting driving more fuel efficient cars will do little to help with the greenhouse gases. From what I’ve learned the main problem with the increase in carbon is methane which comes from cows which is a main source of food for the world. To fix this we would have to cut down on animal population which could cause food shortages. My question to you is, what do you think is the better solution for global warming. Invest billions into trying to find solutions to fix the problem. Or invest the billions of dollars of research into learning to live with global warming?

I am surprised that you refer to “people who think global warming may be true”. Global warming is about as sure as anything in science that deals with a complex system like Earth climate. We know the rapid increase in greenhouse gases is producing a rate of heating that overwhelms any of the much slower “natural” processes that influence global climate. This greenhouse effect is due primarily to increases in carbon dioxide, mostly from burning fossil hydrocarbon fuels. If we can control and limit burning fossil fuels we can slow and eventually halt most of this increase. So far methane does not dominate the problem, but it could in the future. The biggest danger however is release of methane from Arctic tundra as the polar regions heat up. Cows (or more properly the methane-producing microbes in their digestive systems) should not receive the blame. Also please note that cows are not a main source of food for the world. Like all animals, they consume far more calories in feed than they produce in meat. If the world were really short of food, one of the best ways to increase the availability of consumable calories is to decrease our dependence on meat products. As to solutions, I fear we will need to pursue both paths, reducing greenhouse gases and learning how to live with a changing climate. It is probably too late to fix the problem just by cutting our dependence on fossil fuels.

David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
October 21, 2009