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Seriously, how cute are cows? Unfortunately, the livestock industry is responsible for 18% of green house gas emissions  according to a 2006 FAO report, beef requires massive amounts of water to keep the cows hydrated and the demand for pasture has led to deforestation.
Livestock plays an important roles in our diets and economies. Hamburgers and hotdogs, steaks and prosciutto carry cultural meanings. Pound for pound, beef production generates greenhouse gases that
contribute more than 13 times as much to global warming as do the gases
emitted from producing chicken. For potatoes, the multiplier is 57 (Scientific American ). This summary outlines some of the environmental costs of eating animals?
Meat is a big deal: Global production of meat is projected to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999/2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, and that of milk to increase from 580 to 1 043 million tonnes (FAO, 2006a). The bulk of the growth in meat and in milk production will occur in developing countries. Among the meat products, poultry will be the commodity of choice for reasons of acceptance across cultures and technical efficiency in relation to feed concentrates.
Drowning in Wasted Water
It takes more water to make a pound of beef because the cow has to eat so much to grow big and strong and delicious,
...accounting for more than 8 percent of global human water use, mainly
for the irrigation of feed crops (. Evidence suggests it is the largest
sectoral source of water pollutants, principally animal wastes,
antibiotics, hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and
pesticides used for feed crops, and sediments from eroded pastures.
While global figures are unavailable, it is estimated that in the USA
livestock and feed crop agriculture are responsible for 37 percent of
pesticide use, 50 percent of antibiotic use, and a third of the
nitrogen and phosphorus loads in freshwater resources.[Full report - Livestock's Long Shadow (pdf)
Green House Gas Emissions
The FAO used a broader method of calculating GHGs than often used, beginning with feed and ending with processing and transport:
Scientists usually tie their estimates of the
greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming to sources such
as land use changes, agriculture (including livestock) and
transportation. The authors of Livestock’s long shadow took a
different approach, aggregating emissions throughout the livestock
commodity chain - from feed production (which includes chemical
fertilizer production, deforestation for pasture and feed crops, and
pasture degradation), through animal production (including enteric
fermentation and nitrous oxide emissions from manure) to the carbon
dioxide emitted during processing and transportation of animal
products.[Full report - Livestock's Long Shadow (pdf)]
Essentially, the fact individuals animals aren't the issue, the problem is the manufacturing of inputs, processing, transportation and other emission sources.
Deforestation - Cows need to eat, feed crops need to grow, forests gotta go!
The FAO report finds that livestock require lots of land:
Grazing occupies 26 percent of the Earth's terrestrial surface, while
feed crop production requires about a third of all arable land.
Expansion of grazing land for livestock is a key factor in
deforestation, especially in Latin America: some 70 percent of
previously forested land in the Amazon is used as pasture, and feed
crops cover a large part of the reminder. About 70 percent of all
grazing land in dry areas is considered degraded, mostly because of
overgrazing, compaction and erosion attributable to livestock activity.
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