Arctic Seafloor Methane Releases Double Previous Estimates

[NickB79]

15. What do you propose we do, exactly?

It appears we've reached a point where positive feedback mechanisms are now driving some of the climate change themselves, without requiring human inputs. And in the meantime, naturally occurring negative feedback cycles that would counter this have so far been woefully inadequate.

We've added so much carbon to the atmosphere that, even if we stopped ALL carbon emissions tomorrow, the carbon load in the atmosphere will keep us warming for decades to come. Future warming is already "baked into the cake" so to speak: http://www.treehugger.com/climate-change/climate-effects-already-baked-in-united-nations-report.html

If we're already seeing methane releases in multiple parts of the globe this large at current elevated temperatures, we will see even larger releases as the climate warms further, which will trap even more heat, etc, etc. And this is just ONE of many positive feedback cycles that have been identified to date that will amplify global warming's effects.

Since it's clear we're not going to be cutting our carbon emissions to zero anytime this century, the only scalable options left to us are geoengineering solutions, which come with a whole host of unknown, potentially harmful side-effects of their own.