A few hundred years ago, massive herds of bison roamed the North American plains, like furry tanks with horns. There were somewhere between 30 and 60 million of them, casually chilling and being a crucial part of the ecosystem. For Indigenous peoples, bison were life: food, shelter, culture—pretty much their everything. Then Europeans showed up and thought, “Hey, what if we killed all of these… for reasons?” And so they did.
Why? Not just for meat and hides (though those were nice bonuses), but also as a tactical move to starve out Indigenous populations and take over their land. By the late 1800s, bison were basically extinct, with just a few hundred left wandering around wondering what the heck had just happened. Humanity clapped itself on the back and said, “Mission accomplished.” Eventually, though, people realized that exterminating an entire species maybe wasn’t such a hot idea, and conservation efforts brought bison back from the brink. Good job, humans—gold star for barely fixing your own mess.
And Now… It’s the Cows’ Fault
Fast forward to today, and now it’s cows that are in the hot seat. Turns out, cows are apparently ruining the planet. Why? Because they burp and fart like champions, releasing a ton of methane—a greenhouse gas way worse than CO2 when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere. Plus, raising cows takes up a ton of land, water, and other resources. Climate activists are pointing fingers at the beef and dairy industries, saying they’re cooking the planet faster than a burger on a grill.
The solution? Eat less meat, switch to plant-based protein, or even try lab-grown meat (yes, lab-grown). Makes sense, right?
Nope. Veggies ar for vegetarians. Let them have it.
But here’s the ironic part: the same species (spoiler: us) that wiped out millions of bison is now blaming cows—animals we domesticated and stuck in factory farms—for the climate crisis. Classic human behavior: break something, then look around and say, “Wait, whose fault is this?”
Two Sides of the Same Coin
When you think about it, the bison-killing days and the current cow-hating trend come from the same place: humans messing with nature. Back then, we killed bison because we thought we could replace them with a “better system.” Spoiler alert: that system turned out to be industrial-scale farming, which is now biting us in the butt.
But here’s the thing—cows aren’t the bad guys here. The real problem is the way we use and abuse resources like there’s no tomorrow. It’s not like cows decided to overpopulate, build feedlots, and start belching methane on purpose. They’re just doing their cow thing, and we’re the ones who industrialized them into a global problem.
So… Now What?
If this story of bison and cows tells us anything, it’s that we really need to rethink how we deal with nature. Sure, lab-grown burgers and oat milk lattes might help, but the bigger shift has to happen in our heads. We’ve gotta stop treating the planet like our personal playground-slash-trash-can and start figuring out how to actually live with it, not just on it.
The bison comeback is proof that humans can fix things when we stop being the worst. Maybe someday we’ll give cows the same respect—not as “climate villains,” but as victims of our messed-up systems. In the meantime, let’s at least admit the truth: it’s not cows that are the problem—it’s us. And hey, maybe we can lay off the beef a little and try some lentil tacos. They’re actually pretty good.
But we can't ban the nature.
Also "Manmade climate change"? I think it's bullshit.