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Climate 'Time Bomb'
Permafrost Leaking Methane Rapidly: A new study that came out yesterday ("New Climate Change 'Time Bomb' Detected") says that methane gas -- a potent global warmer -- is escaping from the Siberian permafrost at a rate five times faster than scientists thought.
The researchers worry about the methane creating a giant feedback loop: The permafrost melts, releasing more methane, which heats up the atmosphere more, which melts more permafrost....and so on.
The amount of carbon trapped in the permafrost could be 100 times the amount of carbon released into the air each year by the burning of fossil fuels.
The story tells me that there are consequences to a warming planet. We're not creating the methane gas that's in the permafrost, but we're heating the globe and causing the gas to escape. Our actions do have reactions and we most likely can't control this huge ecosystem called Earth, but we can do the least harm possible. That means using less fossil fuels and using more renewable energy sources.
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DON'T WORRY ....BE HAPPY ! ! !
Predicting doom and gloom ...and the End Of The World is as old as mankind ...and the its practitioners constitute, perhaps, the world's second oldest profession.
The fact is that the Earth NORMALLY goes through cycles of periods of warming and cooling...and those have been going on since time immemorial. In other words...it ain't nothing new! As recently as the 1920s and 1930s, the USA went through the Dustbowl period, when temperatures increased, crops failed, deserts expanded...and YES...the End of the World was predicted! In the early 1980s, our Winters were very harsh and bitterly cold
This time around, there is a big political scare campaign going on to the effecrt that we must all feel very guilty, because our greedy capitalist ways have resulted in each of us creating too much heat..sexual and otherwise! Our cars and factories are polluting the world, increasing temperatures, creating a greenhouse effect...it is ALL YOUR FAULT!!! You must repent, change your political beliefs,pay the prophets of doom, sell your cars, stop cooking and adopt a monastical lifestyle: Baloney and BS !!!
The reality is that even though mankind now numbers in the billions, we are still a speck on the face of the Earth, and current climate changes would occur even if there were no humans around. For once, my friend: It is NOT your fault!
METHANE HAS BEEN LEAKING OUT OF THE WORLD'S BOGS AND SWAMPS SINCE BEFORE THE DAWN OF MANKIND...IN VAST QUANTITIES! IT'S NATURAL...AND NATURE TAKES CARE OF IT!
There are FAR more important things for us to worry about in the USA: Think
about the effects of uncontrolled illegal immigration. But, as far as climate changes are concerned, they are going to continue! We can talk about them, we can write about them...but we cannot stop them! -
The U.S Gov't. can have an immediate effect on global warming. Rationing of gasoline and diesel fuel, severely, would be one way. If Global Warming isn't reason enough then use the "War on Terror" as the excuse. Our overuse of fossil fuels supports the $70 a barrel oil prices and provides weopons and safe harbor for terrorists.Who"ll get us if global warming doesn't.
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If you think the world is gonna end your a fool its been around longer than your geat,great,great,great,great.
.. you get the point grandpa. We are nothing more than a virus or better yet fleas on dogs back and when the earth gets tired of us she will will shake us off her back... And ahbede ahbade bede that's all folks...
Better yet she is probably going to just going drowned all of us so you better get yourself boat :-)
And if got mad about this statement oh well life is hard and not everything is rainbows and cup cakes... If your pissed stop buying gas and everything else that uses oil... Believe me oil is everywhere and in eveythingm, life would suck without it.... Better stop using the keyboard... Its made of oil... :-) and all kinds of other stuff thats bad for the planet... -
THERE ISN'T MUCH THE SCIENTEST CAN DO ABOUT THE METHANE GAS ESCAPING FROM THE GROUND, BUT THE PRIORITY SHOULD BE TO HAVE A STUDY FROM ALL SCIENTEST FROM ALL COUNTRIES TO WORK ON A SOLUTION TO STOP THIS MELT DOWN. WITH ALL THE OTHER DISASTERS GOING ON ALL OVER THE WORLD, VOLCANOS ERUPTING, HURRICANES, TORNADOS WE SURE DONT NEED THIS PROLEM OF THE METHANE GAS ESCAPING. SO COME ON ALL PUT DOWN ALL THE WEAPONS, STOP ALL THE WARS AND CONSTRATE ON THE PROBLEM AND SAVE THE WORLD. I HAVE LIVED THROUGH WWII, KOREAN, VIETNAM AND THE GULF WARS AND THIS MELTING OF THE PERMAFROST IT REALLY SCARES ME. ANIMAMO@AOL.COM
9/14/06 6:47 PM