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TechnoratiArctic 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.
![[Preliminary findings suggest that massive deposits of subsea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats. (Photo: Alamy)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/methane.jpg "methane.jpg")
The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.
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.
In the past few days, the researchers have seen areas of sea foaming with gas bubbling up through "methane chimneys" rising from the sea floor. They believe that the sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has acted like a "lid" to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last ice age.
They have warned that this is likely to be linked with the rapid warming that the region has experienced in recent years.
Methane is about 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and many scientists fear that its release could accelerate global warming in a giant positive feedback where more atmospheric methane causes higher temperatures, leading to further permafrost melting and the release of yet more methane.
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.
Orjan Gustafsson of Stockholm University in Sweden, one of the leaders of the expedition, described the scale of the methane emissions in an email exchange sent from the Russian research ship Jacob Smirnitskyi.
"We had a hectic finishing of the sampling programme yesterday and this past night," said Dr Gustafsson. "An extensive area of intense methane release was found. At earlier sites we had found elevated levels of dissolved methane. Yesterday, for the first time, we documented a field where the release was so intense that the methane did not have time to dissolve into the seawater but was rising as methane bubbles to the sea surface. These 'methane chimneys' were documented on echo sounder and with seismic [instruments]."
At some locations, methane concentrations reached 100 times background levels. These anomalies have been seen in the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea, covering several tens of thousands of square kilometres, amounting to millions of tons of methane, said Dr Gustafsson. "This may be of the same magnitude as presently estimated from the global ocean," he said. "Nobody knows how many more such areas exist on the extensive East Siberian continental shelves.
"The conventional thought has been that the permafrost 'lid' on the sub-sea sediments on the Siberian shelf should cap and hold the massive reservoirs of shallow methane deposits in place. The growing evidence for release of methane in this inaccessible region may suggest that the permafrost lid is starting to get perforated and thus leak methane... The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed."
The preliminary findings of the International Siberian Shelf Study 2008, being prepared for publication by the American Geophysical Union, are being overseen by Igor Semiletov of the Far-Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 1994, he has led about 10 expeditions in the Laptev Sea but during the 1990s he did not detect any elevated levels of methane. However, since 2003 he reported a rising number of methane "hotspots", which have now been confirmed using more sensitive instruments on board the Jacob Smirnitskyi.
Dr Semiletov has suggested several possible reasons why methane is now being released from the Arctic, including the rising volume of relatively warmer water being discharged from Siberia's rivers due to the melting of the permafrost on the land.
The Arctic region as a whole has seen a 4C rise in average temperatures over recent decades and a dramatic decline in the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by summer sea ice. Many scientists fear that the loss of sea ice could accelerate the warming trend because open ocean soaks up more heat from the sun than the reflective surface of an ice-covered sea.
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Ike, I didn't get all of what you were trying to say in your repeatedly or accidentally posted last comment, but I believe that the 700 billion you are speaking of is going right back into the capitalist machine that got us into this mess in the first place! This economic crisis, so to speak, should be in my opinion, a lesson on how corporate greed is nothing but an empty spirited system that creates war, poor, and more, more, more! But guess what? We are just feeding our hard earned money, like robots as usual, right back into the hands of the storm. Why? Because we are afraid! Of what? Well we are not quite sure. But the (our) federal government knows how to provoke fear and panic don't they?! Like the "war on terrorism" game plan! A few months or so from now everyone will be bitchin' about paying higher taxes and Wall Street will be doin' what they do best... crunching numbers, feeding the rich, and you'll still be working three jobs! Also, I don't believe the melting of Arctic ice or any other environmental concern can be stopped/rebuilt, although possibly stabilized... for a little while anyway;) Yes, our economy can be rebuilt and we can morph ourselves into a healthier, more responsible human race with the right education and immediate actions, but I don't think it's Wall Street we should be relying on! Like the article just posted today regarding the lack of political protests by the people for the people! Seems as if we are all just a bunch of numbed out hypocrites lookin' for an easy fix! "Oh you want 700 billion from the us to fix Wall Street, doh, oh okay, as long as I don't miss the big game on Friday and I can keep my car!" (Exaggerated of course!)
Chef Z
The Bible makes it very clear. In order for a person- or a country to be blessed they must do virtuous acts. The difference between virtuous acts and sins is also made clear. Billy Graham gave his blessings on every campaign of war the US entered: Korea , Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Latin America.
But the blessings... conjured up by pro-war Christians are not real blessings. For example, the media conjured up bumper stickers after 9-11 reading "God Bless America". The media cannot tell God who to bless. They cannot tell God who to curse. God will bless or curse according to their deeds.
Half of all the CO2 in the atmosphere is from aircraft. The air force flies thousands of sorties over countries with No Navy, No Air Force and No Command Structure. They pollute the air to spy on goat herders, weddings in mud hut villiages and and small bands of local militia fighting in defense of their homelands. So the US military is number one globally as a pollution generator of CO2.
Since about 1930 the so called great generation has made war on over 80 countries . Eighty wars in eighty nations in eighty years. None of these wars will God Bless. He will not bless the people who supported it materialy with taxes. He will not bless those whose votes brought it to be. He will not bless towns whose populace manufactures bombs.
God will bless people doing real good. God will bless those who save us from the inevitable famine that global warming will cause. He will bless people living simply- be they Catholic or Mennonite.
Christian evangelicals voting Republican cannot steal from other people their virtuous deeds. They cannot appropriate other peoples virtues and use them persuasively because they don't live those virtues. Long gone is the Flim Flam of unjustified favor from God. It was a bad doctrine anyway... the doctrine of Grace.
Single issue voters are the easiest to manipulate politicaly. Using single issues and hate mongering only benifits the profits of corporate war profit.
Christians ought to learn how to help people. And... corporate greed not at all. They could start with war orphans . Use the money they wasted on dogs & cats to feed war orphans. That would be virtuous.
Protestants - republican - are not worried about global warming because they have become nihilistic. Nihilism is the last refuge of frustrated ambition.They cannot rule the world! They cannot even keep their teenagers 'outta trouble! The rest of the world is not going to perish so that American Protestants- republican - can validate those unripe doctrines. These doctrines may produce CASH COW CULTIC CHURCHES well enough but we cannot run the global economy or invironmental policy with them. They are out of their league and out of their minds! Moreover they are bankrupt of virtue. Any kind of virtue you want to name.
First you say "The Bible makes clear. In order for a person- or a country to be blessed they must do virtuous acts." While that may be true, God also gave out blessings for animal sacrifice.
Then you say the doctrine of grace is a bad doctrine even though the Bible says we are saved by grace. So, is the Bible clear or not? Let me answer, its not. God is not intervening in any way, shape or form.
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear."-Thomas Jefferson
Another thought! We will know we have progressed when we begin to resist this two party political system. Nothing is black and white, right or left! In fact in my opinion when I see two opposing parties arguing it out, I see the same sh*t different pile!
Thanks Ted and thanks Carol! It's all about being in tune with ourselves and each other. We are looking for external fixes when it starts from within. We are removing ourselves from ourselves, if that make any sense! This is not natural and is affecting us in a negative way. No not to say that no one is in tune with what is happening, but the majority of our western society are missing the point or a part of themselves that is essential to progressively moving forward mentally and physically; socially, environmentally, politically, economically.
Carol,
Men and women in higher places knew this was happening and did nothing about it at all because they knew that this was going to make their bottom line much more redder than they wanted it to be.
There was an article on National NEWS on ABC that they went to another country and spoke to an Indian group in Brazil that are dying off because of what is going on and they said if we die all of mankind will go as well. These are people who live off the land and they know what is going on why can't we see the forest for the trees. They don't care who is listening they are fighting for their lives and that is all they know. How come we aren't waking up and doing something because all everyone that has the power to do something cares about their bottom line and that is a fact.
MAY GOD BLESS US ALL NOW AND FOREVER AS I AM SURE HE IS TRYING TO DO BECAUSE WE ARE MADE IN HIS IMAGINE AND HE GAVE UP HIS LIFE FOR US!!!
I wonder how many times humanity has wiped itself out, taking out just about all other life forms with it, and then started over in the lifetime of this planet?
Good to hear from you, Kem and Siouxrose.
Kathy
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
"I wonder how many times humanity has wiped itself out..." This is a non sequitor. If humanity "wiped itself out" we wouldn't be here. And, humanity cannot "wipe itself out" more than once, now can it?
Bravo! It is always nice to see some logic and reason put into context on any current issue, because I am getting really tired of puke on a silver platter! As for me, the only thing I take a firm stand on is the human responsibility that begins with the self from within... and yes I mean this in a spiritual manner that which our western society has misplaced into the hands of religious institutions. I believe that if we had held on to our spiritual ideals we would not even be discussing these so called problems/issues/emergencies, whatever you want to label these environmental, political and economical truths as! Yes, ultimately, this can be our responsibility, if we choose it, yet we are going to have to come to terms with the fact that we cannot continue to maintain this lifestyle that we lead and have a stable environment all at once! Our existence as we know it will be altered, one way or another, and we will have to come to terms with what we have done to ourselves as human beings. Those of you who think this is going to be easy, freeing, just, or think you will be able to rely on your elected governments present and future to act responsibly are fooling yourselves! Humans are predictable! The Earth can be tested, poked, and analyzed, but it ultimately exists in a universe that we have yet to fully understand and may not ever for as long as humans exist! Hence anything is possible!
I'd like to give a special shout out to Ike Kay, Snydly, Ted Markow, Paul K, Hedology, and I Kare for the logic, reason, and argument! Also Toast! Nice to hear from you!;) Always a pleasure, anytime!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR POST MIS ANGELL! YES IT IS TRUE THAT THIS ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IS PERHAPS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO DEAL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE! LETS USE THE 700 BILLION IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES OR MORE IF NECESSARY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRY AND THE GLOBAL SOCIETY AROUND A CONSERVER ETHIC. LET WASLL STREE BE REBUILT AROUND CAPITAL THAT REBUILDS THE ABOVE.
"I believe that if we had held on to our spiritual ideals we would not even be discussing these so called problems/issues/emergencies..."
Agreed. This comes down to a cultural schism, one of old vs. new cultures. The old culture knew that it needed to live withing natural laws - and did. The new culture...well, we're neck deep in the muddy.
"Those of you who think this is going to be easy, freeing, just, or think you will be able to rely on your elected governments present and future to act responsibly are fooling yourselves!"
I couldn't agree more.
I have been telling anyone who will listen (will the two of you please stand and be recognized) that we simply cannot rely on anyone other than ourselves and each other to work FOR the future we want to see. There are no "leaders" out there, nor have there ever been, who can or will lead us out of our current quagmires (pick one). It is, and always has been, up to us. It has been unnerving to me to see the huge number of posts, here and elsewhere, in response to politics and politicians vs. the puny number of posts in response to articles on what individuals and groups of citizens are doing to improve their environments. People are more interested in cult than they are in changing their lives and their world. Until this reverses, we will get what we've always gotten.
Shaka Zulu the Zulu Chief/King that brought the British Empire in 1876 (almost to its knees)---shook em up badly anyway---is said to have often quoted his own mentor'
"Knowledge is power" ---(and information is knowledge).
The conservative element is and always has been slow to accept the findings of science, in almost every area of science. "If the lord wanted us to fly, he would have made us with wings"---------and other such "reflections" can be expected from them.
Perhaps this is "natural selection" at work, where if those of us who will listen to the science and pool our intelligence and other resources, we may survive the self destruction the conservative element will most likely bring upon the whole; but mostly to themselves.
The "survivors who remain conservative" will be so small in number that they will within a few generations have inbred to the level that no one else will copulate with them----they will die off and leave fossils like the creatures of the Permian era.
On second thought, perhaps it would be wise to isolate them as soon as possible.
If G.W. Bush is nothing else he is an excellent argument FOR genetic diversity in the human gene pool, and it might be more dangerous to risk having another of his "caliber" (along with the other members of the current administration) rise to such power only to abuse it. The only problem is WHERE would they be "isolated" that they would not pose a danger to the rest-----
OK Try this, "isolation----incarceration----re-education----or extinction"----
Or hey---how about RESERVATIONS?
It worked for some other people I know, and they still have not recovered.
I can see it now, on a globe in Ms. "Smiths" 5th grd Geography class-----
"children, this used to be known as the Sahara Desert, now we know it as the
Great Conservative/Republican/Fundamentalist Christian Reservation"-------
One can only dream...........
I sometimes wonder if the Fans for the preparations of the judgement day (the non-political class of 2012AD ) will be satisfied by seeing the burning bush instead. They won't hear anything of course, because they think they have heard it all before.
The political class of (2012AD) , they just like to crow. They just can't believe that the bush will burn in 2012.
toophat for you!
I see one of our favorite deniers, ~MIMICCS~ has arrived and as usual doesn't have a clue of what he is talking about. The fact is there are scientists from the University of Alaska who do nothing but study the Arctic perma-frost. One of them was recently on a TV program, Planet in Peril, and stated that the methane being released in the Arctic is a "TICKING TIME BOMB". Those are the same three words John Acheson used for the title and the article he wrote in the link I just posted, A TICKING TIME BOMB", referring to the methane in the Arctic
Here is a link that tells how methane is spewing out of a lake in the Arctic, just one of several hundred.
http://www.farnorthscience.com/2007/09/26
So for ~MIMICCS~ to say that the methane won't reach the surface and come out of the bottom of the lakes, etc. is sheer nonsense. If it wasn't so deadly serious one could find it to be rather amusing to read the comments written by some of these incredible deniers who take great pleasure in displaying their utter ignorance. ~MIMICCS~ and a few other deniers are continually telling us that they are more informed and wiser than scientists, geologists, etc., who have spent their entire lives studying environmental issues.
~BRIAN~, Thank you for the information, I was attempting to make a point that methane is 20 to 25 times more potent as a Greenhouse gas than Co2 is, but I don't have the education to get highly technical and I do appreciate your more technical explanation.
I am not a scientist, I think everyone is aware of that, I'm just an old fart with nothing better to do than argue with people like ~MIMICCS~ who in truth are very harmful and their presence is a major reason why this issue and other global warming issues are being ignored by those who have the power to act responsibly to prevent a world wide disaster. And any who may believe that if the ocean's methane burps will just be a major problem for most of humanity, they are wrong. It will be a major problem for almost all life on this planet as a distinguised vertebrate palentologist ~Michael J. Benton~ so well outlined in his recent book "When Life Nearly Died". Methane burped out into the atmosphere during the Permian Era and almost all life down to the microbal level was killed off within hours. That time the methane release was caused from high volumes of volcanic activity, which in essence is actually what humanity is doing now by burning fossil fuel.
No one can say with any credence that the Arctic perma-frost is not thawing and the methane that is locked up in that perma-frost will escape into our atmosphere and once again that won't kill us, but it will set off global warming like few have ever dreampt of. That is when the fresh water ice in Antarctica will fully thaw, sea levels will rise over 200 feet, vast land masses will be under water, farmlands, cities, homes and yes, most likely multi-millions, billions of humanity will die, but when the ocean's methane burps out all humanity, polar bears, house cats, aardvarks and lemmings, etc. will all die. The last humans left alive won't be able to turn out the lights because they will orbiting the earth in the Internation Space Station.
Now that may sound grim, words of a doomsdayer, words of a crackpot wearing a white sheet yelling out, the end is near or anybody with any common sense may realize it's the words of world renown scientists who know the score, and I just happen to believe that they know what they are talking about and in my opinion it's the ones like ~MIMICCS~ who are the crackpots. But, I'll leave that up to you other readers to decide.
~KP~
CH4 + 2O2 = CO2 + 2H2O + heat
Balanced equation: 1 carbon atom, 4 hydrogen atoms and 4 oxygen atoms, or
one methane molecule plus two oxygen molecules becomes one CO2 molecule plus water.
BTW: The 4 hydrogens in methane yield energy becoming water not CO2. Coal that is almost all carbon and little hydrogen makes much more CO2 for the same energy produced. Gasoline is in between, so T Boone P isn't all wet about using natural gas in cars.
I have this vision of Sarah Palin in her SUV stuck in the melting permafrost as the toxic methane cloud moves in on Wasilla. McCain tries to save her in a Harrier but lights off the methane. (Didn't something like tht happen on the Forrestal?)
snydly
Almost all have seen An Inconv Truth and noticed or remember the big ice core data chart and Al's fork lift. But that's not enough time to study it. So I got the book and studied the chart. It reveals a lot about our perdicament.
The chart shows about 6 ice ages over the last 650ky (1000 years). Temp deviation from mean and CO2 rise and fall together. The last 3 cycles show well-defined spikes. We are at or very near the top of one now. Our CO2 level shoots well past historical levels.
Several questions and observations present themselves just from this chart alone:
--Did humans or some other overly-successful mammals cause or merely ride the previous cycles?
--What sort of weather phenomenon defeated and reversed these spikes in such a short time?
--When and where does the massive ice that constitutes an ice age form?
--How will the massive excess of CO2 we have added affect the way this cycle will play out?
--Obviously, the ice caps on neither Greenland nor Antarctica melted entirely off before the reversal occurred.
--We're getting a lot of melting now.
--The height of the temp reading is very close to what looks to have been the trigger point range for the other cycles.
I theorize that a combination of changing angular moment of the mass of the planet due to the migration of watermass to the equatorial bulge will activate tectonic plate movement, which in turn would start under sea volcanism, more or less flash heating the oceans past the temp trigger. I know that's a lot to swallow, but it's non-linear forcing of the forcings that might happen. It's so much like Nature to do that.
But keep in mind that humans have survived this before, in loin cloths and huts, yes, but survived. So be ready. It's going to be hard to charge a cell phone and lord knows how many vertical reception bars one can count on...
It looks like our challenge is to cut our anthropogenic CO2 and heat additions back to within historical norms so we at least have a snowball's chance of someone making it. It is a worthy goal.
Don't worry,
Be happy.
Global warming cannot be caused by man. Ask George Bush & Sarah Palen who have the devine guidance which enables them to overule the international scientific community.
And less than a week ago I saw a headline asserting that these methane burps were
not the threat that was previously thought. One thing that impressed me about the article here is that some of its information was gathered within the past three days.
No matter what the subject, every proposition will be countered if not denied. The big change will be if people can learn (or re-learn)to recognize good information and act.
So what is insulating us from earthquakes and other massive shifts in our earths crust?
You all do know this area is said to be rich in oil and gas and is undergoing active survey and exploration.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3096/pdf/FS07-3096_508.pdf
Methane from permafrost is unlikely to reach the surface due to methane in cold seawater is quite soluble and it would dissolve before reaching the surface until methane solubility limits are reached in the water.
However, seepage from natural gas fields have been known to reach the surface since release rates are higher due to the pressure within these fields. That is the most likely explanation. Nothing to do with AGW.
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkID=44227
There is zero evidence presented in this article that surface warming has caused the permafrost on the seabed to thaw. Nor is there any data on how much the ocean temperatures at this level have warmed, if any. Good science waits until it's hypothesis has been peer reviewed before being released to the public.
But hey, if I am wrong and we are all gong to die soon, at least we won't have to pay for that 700 billion bail out, or our grandkids won't have to since we borrow it to avoid having to pay for it in our lifetime (let the kids pay it).
It's I Kare now because I do care about important issues like almost all the good bloggers who comment here and our youngest daughter is an ophthalomolic surgeon, so I spun a pun for fun ~Kem Patrick~
Hey gang, I'm not a wizard or a soothsayer, I'm not highly educated or overly bright and about the only thing I'm right about on the issue of the Arctic's methane gas is that I fully trust the words of John Atcheson who wrote this article and the link I'm going to post once again which was published here by Common Dreams four years ago, and now we get an article that says we are just discovering that it is a serious problem.
The article in this link is without question or any sensible argument the most important article ever written by humanity for humanity. It takes about three minutes to read it and any who don't have a reading comprehension problem should be able to decipher and comprehend that John Acheson was 100% correct four years ago because what he wrote and warned us about is coming to pass.
http://www.energybulletin.net/3647.html
Actually, methane in the atmosphere will after 5 or 10 years convert to Co2, and in laymans terms, each little molecule of methane will become 20 to 25 molecules of Co2 some of which will stay in the atmosphere for centuries. We could be right now breathing methane that Cleopatra farted...(except I understand that girls don't fart...they do fluffies.)
The release of the Arctic's methane is not going to kill us, it will however set off global warming on an almost unbelievable scale which will insure the other oceans will warm enough to allow the really massive amounts of methane hydrates which are now safely locked up in their cold waters to release. When that disaster transpires, and it will, unless science can figure some way to stop the Arctic from thawing, when that transpires almost all life on earth will be terminated within a day or less. (Read Michael J. Benton's book "When Life Nearly Died")
Now these are not my words, I'm quoting extremely intelligent, very highly educated scientists, geologist, etc. who know what they are talking about as did Al Gore. Any who deny global warming cannot deny that the Arctic is thawing regardless of the reason. We should keep in mind that Co2 levels which are causing the Greenhouse Effect and subsequent global warming rose dramatically in the past two hundred years since humanity began burning fossil fuel, primarily coal. Humanity emits as much Co2 annually as that of 17,000 active volcanoes the size of Hawaii's Mt. Kileaua and nature cannot handle that excess amount of Co2 in the atmosphere.
So that's all I have to say about that, except to say Hi to all my friends here, and hope you're all nice to your children and grandchildren because we're leaving them with a tough row to hoe. Now I'm going to go fishing and attempt to enjoy life and blow this methane out of my mind for a few hours, even though it's the most serious issue humanity has ever faced.
~KEM PATRICK~
Speaking of old farts....Hi Kem! Glad to know that you are back.
Kem,
Each molecule of methane (CH4) will break down into a single molecule of carbon dioxide (CO2), since there is only one carbon molecule to be recycled.
The reason that CH4 is much more of a greenhouse gas than CO2 is that it is much rarer, and the frequency "window" in which it primarily absorbs infrared is much less saturated than the CO2 window. If the densities were reversed, CO2 would be the "stronger" greenhouse gas simply because it was rarer. This partly comes from the way they measure greenhouse effectiveness, which is the effect of a "doubling" of gas density, so rarer gases are automatically more "potent" simply because they are rare.
Brian
&YYY&
Sooner than we can think and act, we will test all the warnings from the paleontologists about previous mass extinctions, and warnings about tipping points and runaway climate change from climate scientists.
What are the total reserves of methane that will be released over time, coming out faster as the rate of warming accelerates? The big methane burp theory says the earth turns into to frying pan experience over the gas burner.
We had better find a way to put up a sun umbrella to shield the earth or we are really going to be cooked.
Prevarications about which nations should share the burden of carbon dioxide emission cuts first , are looking like a totally irrelevant posing to explain why we are doing nothing at all. Once the runaway has triggered, and methane gas pipes from the arctic ocean looks like strong evidence, nothing, nothing on earth will stop it. The immediate extinction of human beings, and the regrowth of the forests they have destroyed, would not be enough to stop the completion of the burp and the partial heat sterilization of the surface. In a thousand years time the descendants of cockroaches and rats may recolonize if the permanent Venus like greenhouse state is not achieved.
As commented on by many of the postings and articles here, the fall of Wall street, the robbing of the poor to pay the wages of the rich, and the non-personal loss of trillions of dollars of other peoples money, by rich billionaire banksters and their shonky corporations, seem to be laughable petty crime, compared to the real problems the systems of Gaia and Nature are facing, and we all face as a consequence. If only we could fix this by printing money and throw it at rich people to solve their accountancy issues.
Real panic and pandemonium should ensue over the methane burp. So what all superannuation and retirement savings have evaporated in the debt black hole? Money is only a human abstraction. What benefits mankind that banksters should keep their looting privileges in society, but lose the world? The prediction is that the Vampire States government will continue to lead the way in looting the dying planet, since this news is really too much for accountants worried about their personal money worth.
You can follow global methane trends on the NOAA ESRL site. Methane largely flattened out in the '90s, but is starting to creep up a little. There is a lot of noise and a seasonal sawtooth effect on the graphs, but the smoothed curves show some increase since 2007. NOAA had a press release earlier this year that expressed some concern over this trend.
If what these scientists are seeing is amounting to major quantities, a methane spike should show up on the arctic global monitoring stations sooner or later.
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/iadv/
Methane doesn't last really long in the atmosphere, but does oxidize to CO2 and water. That may be the reason for the seasonal cycles. So, at the least, methane chmineys are contributing to CO2.
Sorry Miss Angell, but I'm getting a little worried. Lets hope Kem (aka I Kare), MiMi and Sigi stop by CD tonight. Might be enough fireworks to burn off the methane.
There are more people using more resources and greed is driving us politically in neverending ways towards extinction. Maybe I should just enjoy life and stop caring about everybody else.
Go ahead, Mr. Chevron, Mr. Texaco, Mr. Shell, and Mr. BushCo are all fine upstanding examples of modern dimentia
I'm suprised how so many people were unfamiliar with the the methane clathrate-gun hypotheses that they would think KEM Patrick is some kind of prophet.
As far as capturing the methane - the emissions are too difuse to do that. You would have to float some kind of airtight membrane over large parts of the arctic seas.
There has been research on methods to mine these ice-like methane clathrates which lie in ground-frost like layers the sediments of most of the deep oceans basins of the world, but there are a lot of technical challenges - and still plenty of conventional natural gas around the world.
The only fix would be to find some way to reduce the solar energy reaching the earths surface - inject sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere - or put in orbit large amounts of sun-blocking reflective chaff.
That was done, unintentionally of course, through emissions from power and steel plants using coal and coke, respectively, and it led to a slight cooling trend from 1945 to 1979. It also led to acid rain which destroyed the forests and caused a severe drought in the mid 1980's in Ethiopia that caused a wide-spread famine.
"reduce the solar energy reaching the earths surface"
Nuclear winter would be effective. It would also reduce the world's population to a manageable proportion. The survivors would include all the uber-rich. I think GWB proposed this 'Death Star' option in private to Paulson already)
"The only fix would be to find some way to reduce the solar energy reaching the earths surface - inject sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere - or put in orbit large amounts of sun-blocking reflective chaff"
Ummm... how about just no more drilling, no more driving. ?
Yes, that would have been a good thing to have done 20 to 30 years ago.
But if the the methane bomb is indeed going off, than even stopping all AGHG emissions today will have little effect at this point.
We better all quit farting.
Dave
http://daveeriqat.wordpress.com/
So many unforeseen consequences to what is happening, regardless of who or what is to blame - and blame is a moot point now, other than to learn what not to do again.
I can imagine scientists looking at all the data and wondering what they've missed and what's to come. All the computers on earth won't be able to determine what nature will do to maintain stasis.
Sioux Rose
USAN: It reminds me of events frozen in time... like the villagers buried under a sudden quake, volcanic ask, or as reputedly the case with Atlantis, the water. Business as usual till the day IT hits, as those vacationing in SE Asia a recent Christmas past came to experience, some instantaneously transferred out of this earth plane. We act as if we have all of time, and yet in our mortal form, we are flickers within the borderless pool of eternity. It's good to remember that the soul is immortal, as times on earth could be far more fleeting than any (including myself) of us wish to acknowledge.
KEM: How does your Leo ego like all these strokes? This is one prophecy any Cassandra would prefer to be wrong about.
I'm one of the posters who has been encouraging methane awareness.
As I've been saying, for the second year in a row big chunks of the Arctic Ocean have been ice-free for months, the Arctic Ocean has been absorbing 100% of available sunlight for a couple of months straight at 24-7 speed, the ocean has been warming. The permafrost on the continental shelves of the Arctic Ocean has been at its melting point. It doesn't get any warmer, it just melts somewhat.
Note: Lower Hudson's Bay is really cooking this September, just like last year. That's from http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tafb/atl_anom.gif
The potential to release 500 billion tons of methane has probably created a runaway global warming loop. Arctic melting may be most pronounced in August, after a good deal of methane has been released into the Arctic in July. This methane cloud will for the most part stay regional for a couple of months, cooking the Arctic.
Now that the straight news is properly bubbling up (or chimneying, if you will), I urge some restraint. I was far out for most people but I was never overboard. Going overboard isn't useful for us.
First, the runaway methane problem may well play itself out over quite a few decades. Arctic permafrost is deep, and it isn't going to melt in any one year, anymore than the Greenland ice sheet will melt in a year. That said, we may be in for a hot lifetime full of lots more windstorms and floods than we're used to.
Second, the methane has a half-life in the atmosphere of 5-10 years, after which either cosmic rays break it down or certain plant leaves eat it for a snack. It does not build up forever in the atmosphere. I doubt the implication that humans will be unable to breathe due to methane buildup.
Third, the ocean isn't going to suddenly rise because of ice cap melting. As long as we're measuring ocean rise in centimeters per year, that's not the problem.
I would expect two pre-eminent disasters in a hot world. First, we're going to see more extinctions of species than we knew existed. Just as an urban environment reverts to rats, grass and ailanthus trees in the asphalt cracks, so almost all ecosystems worldwide are going to be reduced to a few adaptive and fast-traveling species.
The second disaster is the weather. The number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes hitting the U.S. has now doubled. That could easily get far worse. (By the way, 2008 is a lull year for hurricanes, it picks up in 2009.) Tornado alley is getting far worse. California could be really waterless.
So do we just worry? No. I don't believe in preaching doom without a way out.
First off, we humans prepare for impact. Rebuilding every structure in the U.S. to new hurricane/tornado standards along with big 50 foot high coastal levees will help save lives. The Dutch already have 50 foot coastal levees because they are sane. When I saw hurricane Hanna topping the 17 foot levees in New Orleans, I had to wonder how those walls would take a category 5 hurricane and a 38 foot storm surge.
Second, we go around and collect millions of species. We either migrate the species north to havens, or we freeze seeds in liquid nitrogen, as Norway is doing now.
Third, we ameliorate or shut down Arctic summer warming, either by artificially creating cirrus clouds with water vapor over the Arctic Ocean in summer, or by remanufacturing the Arctic ice every winter so that it lasts all summer.
Fourth, we get serious about carbon dioxide. We slow down and then stop burning coal, not in your grandchildren's time but now, not just in your town but worldwide. We put carbon back in the ground either as carbon dioxide, which might leak out someday, or as charcoal, which is stable.
United States Senators laugh out loud at these ideas. The fifth part is restructuring our government so that it works. If your federal government is too big and too corrupt to be restructured, restructure your town government. If that's too big, restructure your co-op government, your church government or your PTA government. It all counts, and we need the practice.
PaulK,
I'm glad you posted this thoughtful response and not me. I believe you have posted the most coherent and reasoned approach to this approaching catastrophe. It's a damn shame that we, in the United States, have squandered the 20 years since James Hansen testified before the Senate about the peril we faced of unchecked anthropogenic global warming. I don't know how practical recreating the ice will be without using more fossil fuels to generate that ice or cirrus clouds and hence increase CO2 levels. Clearly our job just got harder.
One recommendation I would add to your's though would be to start a crash course program to start removing CO2 from the atmosphere by quick growing grasses that can be converted into bio-char in factories that derive electricity through renewable energy in combination with reforestation. This bio-char should be sequestered in the ground and this would kill two birds with one stone by sequestering the CO2 and dramatically increasing the fertility of the soil. The program must be comprehensive and have an aggressive time table if we are to stave off the worst effects of anthropogenic global warming.
But wouldn't that cost billions of dollars?
The US Congress doesn't just throw money at problems without deliberating first!
Ah, but don't you see? As the Arctic ice melts, the Northwest passage will finally be open! Vast amounts of mineral "wealth" which nations are at this moment laying claim to will be available. Extinction is great business. And that jibes well with the values of KKKorporate KKKapitalism: greed, greed, and more greed.
So, like, why aren't we tapping and bottling this flamable gas to use to help solve our energy crisis?
Please think of the immensity of such an undertaking--I have. It's not the Trillions of dollars such an undertaking would cost; rather, it's the amount of time it would take to implement. Then think of the politicaal aspect as opposed to the engineering. As Kem notes, the time to figure out answers to both questions was over a decade ago. And as shown below, the denialists still exist in force and care nothing for the consequences of their actions.
There may be a few entreprenurail attempts to harvest these methane eruptions in the short-term (next decade). But if this problem accelerates as seems likely, humanity's future on this planet will become very very stressed.
I ask the same question. Have you read anything about the means to do methane capture in areas like this?
Woops. Sorry again. That one slipped out. Sorry.
KEM has been a voice crying in the wilderness for a long time now, and so few paid any attention. Guess we have to be on the brink and taking that first gasping breath to make us believers.
Excuse me. I farted.
Looks like it's time to enclose our cities in airtight domes, connected by solar-powered monorails and underground tunnels.
Oh rapture.
AS LOVELOCK SAID THERE WILL BE ABOUT 5OO MILLION OF US LEFT AT THE UPPER LATITUDES IF WE STOP COLD TURKEY NOW! THIS ECONOMIC COLLAPSE MAY GIVE US THE MEANS TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM QUICKLY, AS BEST WE ARE ABLE NOW AFTER LOSING ALL THESE YEARS WITH WITH BUSH'S DENIAL OF CLIMATE CHANGE.
THE MONEY SHOULD GO TO JOB CREATION IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR AND RESEARCH INTO CLIMATE CHANGE REVERSAL, IF POSSIBLE, IF THERE IS ANY LEFT AFTER THE PRINTING PRESSES STOP ROLLING FOR BUSH AND HIS BAND OF BUFFOONS, LIARS AND THIEVES.
This is what is called, "when the shit hits the fan, it blows over every man".
If this translates into reality our leaders will have no answer. The result will be death and "relocation", which we know is often equivalent to death.
_________
There's a glory in the morning because the earth turns 'round and a promise in the evening when the sun goes down
Now I have that stupid song from the 70's playing in my head! "Good bye my friends, its hard to die, when all the birds are singing in the sky." Sorry. This death by corporate greed is getting surreal.
The birds have all ready been substantially silenced...
This is normal! DO NOT PANIC! So is carbon dioxide. This is an inevitable part of environmental evolution. Who are these scientists anyway? Who hired them? Maybe you need to ask yourself this question before you start buying into this crap! I'LL SAY IT AGAIN! GLOBAL WARMING IS INEVITABLE! IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN WITH OR WITHOUT HUMAN INFLUENCE! Do I have to go through this every time an article is posted about this junk! NO, THERE IS NOTHING YOU OR I OR BONO CAN DO ABOUT IT! Okay people! Wake up and smell the deceit. GLOBAL WARMING IS NO ONE'S FAULT! It happens!
Yes, the earth has always gone through cycles based on wobbles in its tilt. But there is a new factor and it is us. Our unchecked ability to shape the world to our needs has become the instrument of our demise.
People, all 6 billion of us, produce more waste than any other organism. We drive cars, we cut down forests, we create dead zones in oceans, we heat and cool homes to our exact specifications, we fabricate substances from chemicals. We upset the balances that could offset our waste. We deplete the soil and water. From a satellite you can see the haze of industry, the scars of forestry and mining, the millions of fishing boats out every day dredging the sea.
We have overtaxed our mother and it is time we grew up and started paying back. Otherwise we are toast.
Joe
Extinction is inevitable too. I wouldn't use that as a basis to counter a scientific observation that has been constructed over 110 years and where thousands of independent scientists have pear reviewed that evidence and come to the same conclusion.
you didn't finish your thought... so let me help you;
"This is an inevitable part of environmental evolution... in accordance with The Project for the New Corporate Century"
Besides, the rapture is coming and we'll all be saved...at least us Christians.
Okay Sara. I admit that the effects of methane release in this article won't greatly impact some who believe that an almighty power will save the chosen few (at least in your own minds)... but for those of us outside the Palin family (most all the rest of humanity)... wellll, we have to take a much less self-deluded viewpoint that an organized effort by humans will be our only "salvation"... that we need to stop contributing to the problem as defined by the reckless and greedy manner that we have historically (mis)used our industry and technology... and perhaps attempt a reversal of what most scientists point to as an impending global catastrophe. One of the ways we deem effective, is to take responsibility for our own actions... to stop or reduce those personal behaviors and corporate practices that have been incontrovertibly proven to add to the problem, and insist that those changes are codified and enforced.
You can just pray.
The rest of us have some work to do, and I'm sorry if that interrupts your sleep... errr... devotionals.
My guess is that this latest update provides just one more substantial addition to the mounting volume of empirical evidence that points toward an impending tipping point. Whether or not we can successfully address the problem in a way that provides effective solutions depends at least in part, on the cessation of interference by those mindless denialists who should be praying instead of thumpin'.
Oh yeah, I forgot... you sortta believe there is a global warming problem now... Oh Well... I guess that's better than the "when polar bears walk on water" position you previously took... well, almost yesterday.
Go back to sleep... errr... prayer. Less rant, more chant. Goodnight Sara.
Miss Angel,
I think McCain chose the wrong person to help him. You would have been a far better choice.
Miss Angel,
I think McCain chose the wrong person to help him. You would have been a far better choice.
hehe thanx, i feel sooooooooooo much better now.
i'm gonna get back over 2 the mall.
ttyl loserz.
"GLOBAL WARMING IS NO ONE'S FAULT! It happens!"
I can imagine that you were part of OJ Simpson's defense team: "OJ killed her but death is no one's fault! It happens!"
Shit happens too, but there is a reason for everything.
We may not be able to physically do anything about global warming (though, nobody on this Earth knows what we can or can't do or how the future will turn out), but I hope we can at the very least change our own mindsets to that in the future we won't be quite so stupid.
Gosh, thanks Miss Angell. But who's panicking?
GLOBAL WARMING IS NO ONE'S FAULT! It happens because of ... Original Sin?
Death and Taxes are inevitable but we can still strive against them.
We can do our part to reduce methane by eliminating things that create methane ... like cows.
HUMANS PRODUCE METHANE AS WELL. WE ARE WORKING ON ELIMINATING ALL HUMANS WITH OUR AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY. THE WHEEL AND INVENTION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SIN. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SIN, THAT IS A HUMAN FABRICATION TO ABSOLVE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS LIKE, NEGATIVE HUMAN INVENTION WHICH HAS CREATED CLIMATE CHANGE TO BEGIN WITH.
THE COMBUSTION ENGINE AND GREED IS THE ONLY SIN AGAINST HUMANITY. RELIGION AND SIN ARE HUMAN FABRICATIONS TO HELP US DEAL WITH THE FACT WE WILL DIE AND CEASE TO EXIST. WE ARE SO FRIGHTENED BY THE IDEA THAT WE CREATE WARS AND GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE TO GURANTEE A QUICKER DEMISE AND CALL IT SIN.
Hi Kem,
Humans must kill other living things to live--that is what Original Sin attempts to absolve. Few seem to understand this nowadays.
Whatever. Its good that you at least admit that GW is a threat to our existence.
But rather than doing something about it, conservatives prefer to do nothing.
Is this satire? There was certianly something we could have done about it when alarms were first sounded in the 1980's. But it may be too late now. The only solution may be draconian, and risky geo-engineering schemes to reduce solar radition reaching the earths surface.
Hats off to Kem Patrick. If we were sane, we would be paying the best scientists to figure out what to do about this. But we are not.
Joe
We are paying the best scientists to deal with this problem but they have been shut-up for years by Bush and company. Bush tried to fire James Hansen, NASA because he would not keep quiet and told the American people and the world the truth. This is the man that should have at least shared the Nobel Prize with Gore. It was not Gore it was Hansen.
The Oil companies led by Exxon -Mobile were in collusion to minimize or cast doubt on global warming science since 1980. I am personally aware of it because they tried to shut me up by killing my funding while working on the first Acid Rain film in North America, called SO2.
Sorry. It is true that science has been squelched for many years. Was your film ever finished / released?
Joe
It was funded by the NFB Canada, I had to proceed with my own resources after Famous Players film chain withdrew their $100,000 support which I had in writing. They were going to distribute the film and pulled that as well. The local distributers could not find placement for the film it too was blocked and a very mild CBC production hit the airways that said very little. This is the story of suppression by big media that I have experienced first hand. In fact I paid for all the research, and for an independent was pretty extensive without a return.
This is the same now but the difference being there is the U Tube and internet which allows for the exchange of information without big corps stopping you, at least for the time being. I have been working on my climate change film since e 1999 funded in part by UNESCO PARIS, THEY REFUSED TO PRINT MY BOOK & CD OF FILM BECAUSE I MADE THE STATEMENT THAT CLIMATE CHANGE WAS A DIRECT RESULT Of HUMAN INTERFERENCE BASED ON THE WORK OF JAMES HANSEN IN 1980. He forecast than we had about ten years to change our direction but he did not have the latest satellite information on melting glaciers and poles or concentration levels of CO2, which take time to see. But he had the goods no one would listen. Gore took his findings and ran with the ball. i did not have the name Senator behind my name.
The actions of this and all other developed nations were motivated by the financial and industrial sectors and profit alone . . .not by the survival of humanity or your children. This is the situation presently with the 700 billion bailout which should be earmarked for dealing with climate change and the development of technology to limit the effects. That alone would create s global indsutry based in survival. But if we stopped now it would take about 100 years to reduce warming below the 787 PPM it is now, if we were successful. However, still the disruptions to this planet and human survival will be cataclysmic. We can expect the deaths of two to three billion people presently alive if not greater.
IKE
America is forked. Do you like your America rare or well. Enjoy your last supper.