Mitloehner lab Ph.D. student Samantha Werth, M.S. explains that cattle are often thought to contribute to climate change because they belch methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas. While this is true, cattle do belch methane, it is actually part of an important natural cycle, known as the biogenic carbon cycle.

While the world is rightfully focused on the demise of the Amazon, no one is mourning the loss of the ancient forests that live below the surface of the earth. The ones we call fossil fuels and which we are burning at the expense of a warming earth. This is the real climate change emergency.