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Cows are not the leading cause of methane emissions in the United States, for those of you worried about bovine bodily functions. The leading cause of methane emissions is the decomposition of organic material in the anaerobic conditions that exist in landfills. There are two ways to deal with this problem:
(1) recapture the methane and use it for energy production (see EPA website: http://www.epa.gov/lmop/overview.htm).
or
(2) allow the material to decompose in an aerobic, i.e., oxygenated state. Otherwise known as composting.
San Francisco and Seattle both have curbside composting programs. Residents sort out their food/yard waste from their non-organic waste. The organic material is taken out of the city to be professionally composted and is then provided to the California wine industry as the best fertilizer money can buy. So if you want to take a swipe at reducing greenhouse gases, go ask your municipal government why your city can't have something like this:
http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/composting.htm
