FARTS AND METHANE

POST # 52


I was sitting in the kitchen yesterday, gazing out the windows at a couple of flies buzzing around, like it was a summer's day, and yesterday was anything but a summer's day. Flies in December? That can't be normal.

Peach walked in the kitchen and for a moment she stood looking out into the back yard, then promptly turned and began walking back into the living room, glancing my way as she did so. Was that a smirk on her face or was I just imagining it? She was only out of the room a moment or two and then it hit. I couldn't have seen it coming and I didn't hear a thing, but the fragrance was unmistakable. This cute little Yorkie with the cute name to match, had just farted and then left the room. It kind of reminded me of that Monty Python line spoken with a french accent, "I fart in your general direction." The fart was invisible but its effects certainly were not.

Now it's interesting how the brain works. There I was, thinking of flies, then farts, and how that even invisible things can have an effect, and my brain then made the connection with gas, which then made me think of methane gas and that got me to thinking about the ice in the Arctic. What? Huh? Where is he going with this thread of an idea?

Well you see, as a result of all the fossil fuels which we have been burning over the last one hundred and fifty years or so, the planet has heated up to such an extent that it has actually had the effect of warming the Arctic ocean enough, to cause methane gas, to be released into the atmosphere. Methane gas is a much more powerful greenhouse gas and because it is now venting into the atmosphere, this is accelerating the warming effect. This is what is known as a positive feedback loop. The result of all this warming is that the Arctic ice which has acted like a big planet earth air conditioning unit, is now melting at a much more rapid pace than was thought even back in 2007, when the projected date for an ice free Arctic was 2100. Professor of Ocean Physics, Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University who has been studying the sea ice now for decades has concluded that we probably will see an ice free Arctic Ocean not by 2100, but as early as 2015. And some even suggest it could happen as early as next year. Now here's the thing. The Arctic sea ice has been there for about three million years. And now the forecasts say it will be gone in about three years. So in other words, this air conditioning unit for the planet will be turned off at least for a few months of the year initially, and then as the positive feedbacks increase, the ice will melt even more, and eventually there will be no ice left at all. And with it gone, there goes the planet's air conditioning unit. This is very significant for a variety of reasons, which I need not go into here, and yet this is never talked about in the media. I wonder why?? I believe I know why, but I'll let the reader make up their own mind.

There are many more positive feedback loops that could/will add to the warming of the planet, however this one with the methane gas certainly looks like a big one. All of a sudden, the southern hemisphere is looking at least for a while like it might be a better place to hang out. Maybe those Aussies will have the last laugh after all. Or the Kiwis. Or more likely the penguins in Antarctica.

We humans have been so intelligent that we have managed to get ourselves into this situation, and now it's very questionable whether we will be intelligent enough to get our way out. Personally, I have my doubts, but as each new day unfolds I guess we will get to see how this story plays itself out. This intelligence of ours is a double edged sword. I guess if there is some good news, it is that we can at least say we are here, alive to experience it all. What is the Chinese saying, "May you live in interesting times." Well, we certainly are.

These were all the thoughts that were going through my brain yesterday as I waited for the air to clear in the kitchen after Peach's fart. In the meantime Peach and Jackson had settled nicely into their little cozy beds in the room off of the kitchen totally oblivious of course to what the housesitter was thinking about. I glanced over to have a look at the two of them lying there so peacefully in their little dog beds and called out their names. Sleepily they both looked up at me and in spite of what I had been thinking about, I just had to laugh. I am not sure if this is a trait common in all Yorkshire Terriers but these two have the habit of sleeping with their tongues sticking out. It's as though their tongues are too long for their mouths. In any event, it makes me laugh every time and I am thankful that these "baby boneheads" as I refer to them, had managed to bring my mind back to the present moment.

One last look at the flies buzzing around outside and then I said to the baby boneheads, "come on you guys, let's go for a walk," and so off we went.

Dog walking into the future.

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer