Is methane really worse for the environment than carbon dioxide?

CO2 certainly gets most of the doomsday ink, and for good reason. In terms of sheer weight, it accounts for around 85 percent of America's greenhouse gas emissions, which amounted to 7.074 billion metric tons in 2004; methane accounts for just 8 percent of that frightening total. On top of that, carbon dioxide is often spotlighted because it's so closely linked to the appalling fossil-fuel dependence decried by treehuggers and politicians alike: Ninety-four percent of the nation's anthropogenic CO2 emissions are due to fossil-fuel combustion.