If you thought CO2 is a bad boy... - by Rogue Keeper
Rogue Keeper on 24/9/2008 at 07:52
Quote:
Arctic scientists discover new global warming threat as melting permafrost releases millions of tons of a gas 20 times more damaging than carbon dioxide.The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists.
(
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-the-methane-time-bomb-938932.html)
So it came this far and now the real fun begins. :erg: The oil companies will surely welcome that melting ice caps provide better access to previously inaccessible oil reserves, but how do we stop this?
Genre interest influence :
Dystopian Eco-Thrillers +
Nature Documentaries (Polar Bear Porn) ++
jay pettitt on 24/9/2008 at 09:13
That sounds alarmingly like another of those pesky positive feed back loops starting to manifest itself. The worry, I guess is that we're going to warm for a decade or so anyway as the climate catches up with the previous few years of anthropogenic emissions. It is very likely that summer [sea] ice in the arctic will become a historical oddity, even if we all green up by later this afternoon. It'd probably be wise not to jump the gun, but it would seem that the chances of avoiding a climatic chain reaction just got a little less.
What can I say, stop sleep walking. Write a stiff letter to your representative in government and politely ask that they stop sleep walking too, ask a friend or neighbour to do the same. It's heck of a lot more likely that we can adapt successfully to a change to clean energy technologies.
Koki on 24/9/2008 at 11:48
I am pretty sure this is old news.
jay pettitt on 24/9/2008 at 12:18
I think the new news bit is recording increased rates of release in Siberia, not that melting permafrost will release trapped green house gases per se or that methane is escaping into the oceans which wouldn't be entirely unusual. It ought to be said that a melting permafrost would be only one possible cause, there are other less alarming possibilities - so it may prove to be fairly benign. Under the circumstances though, where we are skirting perilously close to this kind of event, it's not a reassuring discovery.
Mr. K. on 24/9/2008 at 14:50
I find it deliciously ironic that cow farts cause the earth itself to fart and kill us all.
dj_ivocha on 24/9/2008 at 14:59
Yeah, it's the damn vegetarians' fault! :mad:
SD on 24/9/2008 at 15:14
Other way round dude. If everyone was veggie, these cows wouldn't be bred in the first place, and we wouldn't get the double greenhouse whammy of methane being produced and rainforests being levelled for growing animal feed/grazing cattle.
(I think you may have been being sarcastic anyway, but in case anyone took it seriously...)
Rogue Keeper on 24/9/2008 at 15:43
Yea, but they are burning rainofrests to get more land for agricultural purposes too.
And people fart too.
Turtle on 24/9/2008 at 16:35
But I fart more after I've eaten a lot of veggies.
Do I smell a paradox?
No, wait, ew.
