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Grab The Beano! This Planet’s Got Gas.

49 comments Grab The Beano! This Planet’s Got Gas.

It’s an awkward, yet necessary human function that happens to the best of us at the worst of times: flatulence.

Whether released in the privacy of your bathroom, or presented with gusto in a room full of your closest friends, there’s no denying that the human digestive system and our not-so-healthy diets combine forces to make us one gassy species. 

If you think human flatulence stinks, however, this news is really going to wrinkle your nose.

Up until recently, our planet has kept its gas to itself, locked safely away in Arctic permafrost, the thick layer of soil just beneath the surface that remains frozen year round. Because Earth’s temperature has been steadily increasing over the past few decades, however, the frozen ground is melting, and the concentrated gas is bubbling to the surface in alarming amounts.

The gas now exploding through the Arctic shelf is methane that was originally deposited there through decomposition of organic matter in ancient wetlands.

Methane is 25 times as potent a heat-trapping gas as CO2 over a 100 year time horizon, but 72 times as potent over 20 years (Climate Progress).

If a significant amount of this formerly-frozen methane is released into the atmosphere, it could put in motion a positive feedback loop in which warming releases methane, causing further warming, which liberates even more of the gas.

In a recent press release, the National Science Foundation press release warned that “release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming.”

But the planet’s gassy problems don’t end with underground methane bubbles.

According to a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, thawing permafrost in eastern Greenland may be emitting large amounts of nitrous oxide, a dangerous greenhouse gas better known under it’s cuddly stage name — “laughing gas.”

The smile will probably fade from your face when you realize that nitrous oxide ranks as the third-most significant greenhouse gas generated by human activities, behind carbon dioxide and methane (see above!).

According to the EPA, nitrous oxide is about 310 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over a 100-year period.

The study suggests that nitrous oxide released by warming permafrost, which lies under roughly a quarter of the land in the Northern Hemisphere, could be a bigger contributor to climate change than previously thought.

Now, if you had a friend suffering from this kind of gas, you’d probably offer them a natural enzyme supplement or point them in the direction of your finest leafy green.

Unfortunately, the planet can’t reach for an over-the-counter remedy. We are the only ones who can bring it any relief, and it’s important that we act quickly.

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Image Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation

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49 comments

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8:59AM PST on Dec 4, 2010

Some new information/knowledge.

2:24AM PDT on Jun 29, 2010

Thanks

1:05AM PDT on May 14, 2010

Linda M... It sure does not look like DoctorV and Heinz are attempting to "convert" anyone to deniers of climate change. It is, on the other hand obvious that they are attempting to wake up the masses to the blatant criminal behavior taking place all around us while people are more concerned with their petty petitions to put solar power in the White House and the like... sure, a great idea and the more solar the better. The less fossil fuel the better. But what good is any of that if we all end up dead due to HAARP and the spraying of the masses with viruses and metal particulates and who knows what else... Yes, the people should question the status quo. Always question what is being pushed by the mainstream media. After all, it is all owned by the same ones that have been leading down the path of lies and deceptions for generations.
Check out the Bonfire Coalitions website:
http://agriculturedefensecoalition.org/?q=welcome_bonnefire
And go to that CaliforniaSkyWatch.com site
No, no one is denying climate change, simply pulling the wool off our eyes. You should too...
Codex Video With Dr. Labow
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5266884912495233634#

Be Happy

8:48AM PDT on Apr 23, 2010

Informative article.It`s aprreciated...thanks.

8:14AM PDT on Apr 21, 2010

Heinz K. why he must be a scientist he thinks he is capable of debunking what science is telling us. People are the result of climate change the earth is stretched to it's max with the over-population problem that exists. Deforestation of the rainforest which by the way helps keep the planet cool, will result in the increased warming. Let's not forget about the CO2 that people release and cars are the worst everybody has got to have one. Good Luck!

11:45PM PDT on Apr 20, 2010

poor heinz,
maybe you need to lie down and take a break.
but first, poor poor heinz, sign my petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/tell-obama-to-put-solar-panels-back-on-the-white-house

it'll make you feel better!

10:18AM PDT on Apr 20, 2010

Does GW really exist?
“I remember that when I was a small boy, say sixty years ago, snows were frequent and deep in every winter, to my knee very often, to my waist sometimes, and that they covered the earth long. And I remember while yet young to have heard from very old men that in their youth the winters had been still colder, with deeper and longer snows. In the year 1772, thirty-seven years ago, we had a snow two feet deep in the Champain parts of this state, and three feet in the counties next below the mountains . . .

“While I lived at Washington, I kept a Diary, and by recurring to that I observe that from the winter of 1802-03 to that of 1808-09 inclusive, the average fall of snow of the seven winters was only 14½ inches, and that the ground was covered but sixteen days in each winter on average of the whole. The maximum in any one winter during that period was 21inches fall, and 34days on the ground, the minimum was 4½ inches fall and two days on the ground . . .
“Williams in his history of Vermont has an essay on the change in the climate of Europe, Asia and Africa.”
-Thomas Jefferson

It’s clear, then, that the earth was warming during Jefferson’s time.
It’s also clear that the climate change could not be attributed to man’s activities.
Veritas vos liberabit!
Naturheilt

8:37PM PDT on Apr 19, 2010

LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY

4:25PM PDT on Apr 19, 2010

Regarding Linda M.'s comment about Doctor V.
All he was writing about was the same cause that to the main public remains unknown and since it is a growing problem is making me lose my sanity that so many are unaware.

12:52PM PDT on Apr 19, 2010

Thank you for the info.

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