‘Frank Mitloehner, a University of California, Davis, professor who places cows in air-tight tent enclosures and measures what he calls their “eruptions,” says the average cow expels — through burps mostly, but some flatulence — 200 to 400 pounds of methane a year.

More broadly, with worldwide production of milk and beef expected to double in the next 30 years, the United Nations has called livestock one of the most serious near-term threats to the global climate. In a 2006 report that looked at the environmental impact of cows worldwide, including forest-clearing activity to create pasture land, it estimated that cows might be more dangerous to Earth’s atmosphere than trucks and cars combined.’

via Greening the Herds – Trying to Limit Cows’ ‘Emissions’ – NYTimes.com.

The Global Humanitarian Forum of Geneva has issued a new Human Impact Report, “Climate Change: The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis”, available as a 135 page download, which discusses existing impacts of climate change on human populations.

Time magazine reports on this report:

‘1. The scale of the problem: “Climate change is already seriously affecting hundreds of millions of people today and in the next twenty years those affected will likely more than double — making it the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time…. The number of those severely affected by climate change is more than ten times greater than for instance those injured in traffic accidents each year, and more than the global annual number of new malaria cases. Within the next 20 years, one in ten of the world’s present population could be directly and seriously affected.’

‘COLUMBUS, Ohio — Federal regulators have not done enough to ensure that shareholders are aware of material risks to companies from greenhouse gas emissions, according to a pair of studies released Wednesday by environmental and investor groups.’

via Study: Companies Need To Disclose More Climate Risks.