Can we lay a little blame for global warming on anyone else? Like cows, maybe? Actually, yes. By producing methane-a colorless, odorless, flammable gas, composed of carbon and hydrogen-cattle and other stock animals add to the problem. They create this major greenhouse gas through their digestive processes and exhale it too. Methane is also created by other natural processes, such as the decomposition of organic matter in wetlands. Still, humans are generating the bulk of it-60 percent according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-through activities such as coal mining and landfill accumulation. Since methane is also the primary component of natural gas, used for heating, home cooking, and numerous commercial and industrial applications, scientists are looking into ways of harnessing methane emissions, to keep them out of the atmosphere and redirect them for use as an energy source.

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