"Don't forget, those of you who eat beef, that methane is believed to be a major factor in the greenhouse effect - and cattle fart about 70 million tons of it a year."

No - unless they are feeding the cows on coal or oil. (Which unfortunately isn't as ridiculous as you'd think - they'll feed them on anything these days...) If the cows are eating organis stuff - grass or mashed up turnips or even - God Forbid - mashed up cows, they can fart all they like - it's the same old carbon being recycled around.

It's fossil fuel that matters. The same way that if you run your car on straw etc you can be as smoky as you

like, and drive as much as you like - you're just recycling the carbon dioxide the straw etc took up when it grew.

Contrariwise, if you plant forests and it takes up the carbon dioxide from fossil fuels like coal and the oil, in the long term it is useless - all you are doing is slow down the process by which thta carbon dioxide gets into the stmosphere, when the wood burns or rots. Unless of course you can arrange to have it laid down to turn into coal over the next few thousand /million years.

There is no answer that's an answer, unless it cuts down on the use of fossil fuel.

It's a great pity that most of the United States isn't below sea-level, because if it was this problem would be solved very quickly, one way or another.