What You Always Suspected:

Passing wind is more harmful to the environment than driving your car. Yup, belching and farting—even the words are too disgusting for polite society—are much worse than the exhaust that comes out of your car or the smokestack of your local power plant. And it's not the smell we're talking about here.

Methane gas—pew—is 25 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. And the worst culprits aren't the fellow you're trapped in the elevator with but the cattle and hogs that are being raised to feed a burgeoning human population that more and more demands to eat meat. According to The New York Times, the demand for red meat "is expected to double globally between 2000 and 2050." Cows and pigs are regular methane gas factories.

One solution is to harness all of that gas to generate electricity. But it should be remembered that it requires two to three times the plant protein in order to create red meat protein from pigs and cows, not a very efficient means of feeding large masses of people.