Robert Goodland retired as lead environmental adviser at the
World Bank Group after serving there for 23 years. His work was
influential in my “We Could Be Heroes” column of May 15. The
past year has been the warmest ever in the United States, with
record heat sweeping across the country last week, causing at
least 52 human deaths and also harming livestock. In fact,
livestock are not only harmed by human-caused global-warming
greenhouse gas, but also cause about 18 percent of it, according
to “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” a 2006 UN Food and Agriculture
Organization report by FAO livestock specialists (who normally
promote livestock). In contrast, environmental specialists
employed by two other United Nations specialized agencies, the
World Bank and International Finance Corporation, have developed
a widely-cited assessment that at least 51 percent of human-
caused greenhouse gas is attributable to livestock. I’m one of
those specialists. One might expect the FAO to work objectively
to determine whether the true