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* a lot of energy is used to farm the cows, e.g. growing their food, fertilizers, butchering, shipping, etc

* Cow methane is a much worse greenhouse gas than co2, orders of magnitude worse

* Land that would capture a lot more CO2 and keep water in the environment is chopped down or otherwise destroyed to make pastures, the worst being rainforests.

* Orders of magnitude more water is used to raise cows vs the equivalent calories in plants.

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> Cow methane is a much worse greenhouse gas than co2, orders of magnitude worse

But it's also released in much lower quantities, and has a much faster half life. Let's be clear: carbon dioxide, not methane, is responsible for the overwhelming majority of long term warming.

The point about the extra energy is potentially valid, although it would need data.

Methane being worse than CO2 doesn't change the fact that it's a cycle and thus it's not causing extra warming as long as the amount of animals is constant.

Alternative forests, etc, is equally a one off thing. Keeping the pastures doesn't make anything worse, and reverting them back would only be a one off improvement.

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