The climate is changing and changing fast. President Biden said we need to prepare before conditions get worse. The time for trying to keep conditions from getting worse was decades ago. Now we can try to limit how much worse the future can be.

            Methane is more than thirty times worse in causing the planet to warm than carbon dioxide. We call methane natural gas which is what we burn to heat our homes and cook with. When I worked in the oil fields we usually flared the methane if it was enough to keep it burning. If not, it just vented to the atmosphere. Now multiply that by a million or two around the world. Wells that were plugged or just left are leaking millions of tons of methane every year. One item in Biden’s infrastructure package is to stop that leakage. It often is flared on new wells since pipelines aren’t available. When methane is burned it makes carbon dioxide which is a much smaller contributor.

            Yes, cows do emit massive amounts of methane out of both ends but mostly via their mouths. Scientists think they can solve those emissions.

            A huge new source of methane is the melting Tundra. As the Arctic climate grows warmer, more methane will be released causing more to be released. Over the last decade Arctic temperatures are reaching up to 100 degrees.

            We can’t stop the climate change that is already going to happen in the next several decades. If all countries make it their primary goal, life on the Blue Marble might continue.