How Much Does Eating Meat Contribute To Global Warming?

How much does animal agriculture and eating meat contribute to global warming?

Vegetarians are using the threat of global warming to push their cause.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, livestock farming contributes more to global warming than total worldwide transportation. Nevertheless, this is still consistently ignored in the majority of discussions about climate. 

It is true that the meat in our diet is contributing to global warming, but how alarmed should we be?  Are there going to be dire consequences if we don't all go vegetarian?

First, while it's true that livestock farming contributes more than transportation, transportation itself is a small part of the whole.  By far the greatest contribution is energy and heating.  For example, here in the United States it contributes only 6.2%:



So it's an exaggeration to claim, as some vegetarians do, that we have to avoid all meat in our diets. But it is true that an overall plan to avoid the dire consequences of global warming should include reduction of meat eating in our diet.