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Originally Posted by SH@UN
1) Cow poop = methane
2) Methane = bad for environment
3) Bad for environment = bad for us
Of course, all the cow feces in the world isn't probably as bad as one day of car exhaust from a city like New York or Los Angeles. It's all relative.
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On a molecule to molecule basis, methane is 23x (or 84x, depending on who you ask and how you calculate it) more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. It doesn't hang around forever though - it breaks down into CO2 after a few decades.
This is just a random source I found on google, but at a glance the math checks out:
Are cows the cause of global warming? | Time for change
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A cow does on overage release between 70 and 120 kg of Methane per year. Methane is a greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide (CO2). But the negative effect on the climate of Methane is 23 times higher than the effect of CO2. Therefore the release of about 100 kg Methane per year for each cow is equivalent to about 2'300 kg CO2 per year.
Let's compare this value of 2'300 kg CO2: The same amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) is generated by burning 1'000 liters of petrol. With a car using 8 liters of petrol per 100 km, you could drive 12'500 km per year (7'800 miles per year).
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Let's assume these figures are remotely close. There are about 50% more cows out there than vehicles, so cows are, in total, responsible for more greenhouse gas effects than all of the cars, trucks, and busses in the world.