Issues with Melting Permafrost
There are two issues associated with the melting permafrost in the arctic, and, at this point it’s hard to know which will be the deadlier.
• As shown here, the methane that had been frozen for millions of years is being released into the atmosphere. As CH4 is a greenhouse gas approximately 30 times more potent than CO2, this process will greatly accelerate global warming.
• The other is the release of disease causing bacteria and viruses that humankind has never encountered. We know what anthrax and bubonic plague are like; we have no idea what’s being released with each successive arctic heatwave.
Best solution: leave fossil fuels in the ground and invest in reforestation.
Craig,
“Best solution: leave fossil fuels in the ground and invest in reforestation”.
Great idea ! Well done ! …Er,…now the hard bit,….how ?
Unless you are suggesting you are in personal contact with mythical magic creatures like Johnny Appleseed, how exactly with you accomplish this tack without fossil fuel energy ?
It’s that sort of smug, facile claim that epitomizes why the green movement has lost support.
Reforestation requires very high expenditure, both in terms of funding and energy,in particular fossil fuel energy!
Simplistic, facile claims aren’t helpful or productive, in fact they’re counter-productive.
Global warming is a snowball effect! The more energy we use, the hotter it gets, therefore we use more energy on cooling. That’s already bad enough on its own, but now we now methane is also being released by the melting glaciers. Sadly, we need to change now or we will never be able to go back!