Eliminating cows from the food chain is probably not going to happen anytime soon. Their methane production has gotten a lot of bad press in recent months and years, and we typically think about them in terms of milk and meat production. But leather is also a by-product of these greenhouse gas offenders. In this article, we look at a few options to reduce the dependence on cattle as well as perhaps a means of reducing their methane production while still gaining the food source and other benefits we have historically achieved from livestock.

I clearly remember reading the 1971 best-selling book by Frances Moore Lappé, Diet for a Small Planet, one of the first clarion calls to action for environmental vegetarianism, pointing out the environmental impact of meat production as wasteful, and as a contributor to global food scarcity. Back then, methane didn’t come into the discussion, but add her points to today’s methane discussion, and it sure paints cattle as bad guys. Thanks to the wonders of digital book production, the book is still available from Amazon in print or ebook form and well worth a read.

The updated introduction to the book states: