The Surprising Ecological Benefits of Cows | Research UC Berkeley

Berkeley researchers explain how cows are critical to the environment.

The Surprising Ecological Benefits of Cows November 18, 2025 By: Tomas Weber Do cows, long in environmentalists' crosshairs, deserve a rethink? Last January, as wildfires engulfed the Los Angeles area, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) mailed Governor Gavin Newsom a matchbox. Accompanying the gift was a message from Tracy Reiman, PETA’s executive vice president, who had just fled her LA home. “My city burns,” she wrote—and one of the reasons, she claimed, was the cows. iStock photo by Adam Kaz Methane from cattle, Reiman argued, was heating up the planet and helping fuel the f

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