Just when it seemed bad that 2015 surpassed the old warmest year on record of 2014, NASA just confirmed February far surpassed January 2016 as the most unusually warm month ever measured. Curiously, Harvard researchers in March 2016 published findings of a 30 percent spike in atmospheric methane since 2002. The correlation between fracking for gas in recent years, the methane spike, and this massive surge in global temperatures has the attention of climate scientists, environmentalists, and governments around the world.
It appears that just as the U.S. started global warming decades ago with fossil fuel burning, it has now accelerated the process by exploding the earth to enhance gas flow from wells and accidentally starting leaks of the gas 100 times more efficient than CO2 at trapping heat from the sun. The historic Paris Climate Summit reached a signed agreement by all nations to hold Earth's temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in December 2015. We've already hit that mark hopefully, temporarily in the northern hemisphere. Unfortunately, gas has been touted by industry as a clean fuel which has slowed the installation of truly clean energy like wind and solar.
There is hope in that all governments, most religions, parties, individuals, and even a corporate climate think tank headed by Bill Gates are working to stop the disruption of our climate. Humans have always been at their best when backed into a corner, and now is the time to keep fossil fuels in the ground. End fracking. Deny pipelines. Divest of fossil stocks. Buy electric cars. Install or sign up for solar. Stop eating energy and land intensive, water and air polluting beef. Earth is our common home. Our beloved outdoors needs us to work for the common good.
Neal Lesmeister
Geologist
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Baxter
