The methane time bomb

The relevance of the Arctic ice melting probably hasn’t hit home with most people yet.  Here is a frightening article that tells you exactly what will happen: Millions of tons of methane released from the oceans 20x more damaging than carbon dioxide .  The rapid acceleration of climate change that will cause will be fatal, not just to millions of people, but billions. Time to switch to a vegetarian diet people and be green in every means possible.

Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species. Scientists aboard a research ship that has sailed the entire length of Russia’s northern coast have discovered intense concentrations of methane – sometimes at up to 100 times background levels – over several areas covering thousands of square miles of the Siberian continental shelf.

The amount of methane stored beneath the Arctic is calculated to be greater than the total amount of carbon locked up in global coal reserves so there is intense interest in the stability of these deposits as the region warms at a faster rate than other places on earth.