AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- A breakthrough in understanding about the causes of climate change has been published online in the prestigious international journal Science. The findings of a study initiated by scientists from New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), rule out fossil fuel production as the major cause in the rise of methane levels in the atmosphere since 2007.

The research, led by NIWA atmospheric scientist Hinrich Schaefer, has concluded that increasing levels of methane in the atmosphere since 2007 are most likely due to agricultural practices, and not fossil fuel production as previously thought.

http://www.worldoil.com/news/2016/3/17/scientists-blame-rising-methane-levels-on-agriculture-not-fossil-fuels

I don't think this is new. I thought it was common knowledge that the rise in carbon dioxide was from fossil fuels and methane from agriculture.

I don't think this is new. I thought it was common knowledge that the rise in carbon dioxide was from fossil fuels and methane from agriculture.

It IS common knowledge,but articles like this are designed to confuse people who lack common knowledge. So a magazine called "WorldOil.com" tells people that fossil fuels do not cause something that they were not accused of causing in the first place, with the clear and completely objective goal of making fossil fuels seem great. Why would a site called WorldOil try to do this?

Who can say?

Yes carbon dioxide and methane are completely different gases with different origins.

Both are causing climate change. Only carbon dioxide also causes changes in water acidity, especially in the sea, that exacerbates coral reef ecosystem destruction, for example.