Wetlands Methane Counteracts Kyoto Emissions Cuts

A new study that will appear in Thursday's journal Nature revealed that methane being released from bogs in what is now Great Britain likely contributed to global warming 55 million years ago.

Maybe more importantly, when you add up the methane being released from wetlands around the world, it could completely counteract all the carbon dioxide emissions reductions mandated by the Kyoto Protocol.

Of course, such findings are likely not going to be entered into the current climate change debate, for media will totally ignore this study as they do all reports that go counter to the global warming agenda.

Regardless, as reported by National Geographic Wednesday (emphasis added throughout):

Huge belches of methane from bogs in what is now Britain likely contributed to global warming some 55 million years ago, a new study says.

The emissions probably amplified an ancient and extreme global warming event that heated Arctic Ocean waters to a balmy 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius).

The finding adds weight to the idea that methane being released from wetlands today may accelerate modern global warming.

Initially, what the reader should take from this - and what people around the world should as well if media would actually report it - is that there are many theories concerning global warming. This of course goes counter to claims by Al Gore and others who choose to ascribe all blame for the recent increases in temperature to man.

Many scientists have tied methane to such climate changes. This study is therefore doubly important as it has connected a natural, nonanthropogenic release of gas to global warming many millennia ago well before man walked the planet.

If such could occur 55 million years ago before man was here, couldn't it be responsible for the recent temperature increases in the past century?

Moreover, which theory is correct? Who knows?

However, it does seem that almost on a weekly basis, some study is being published in a major science journal offering evidence that something much less nefarious than manmade carbon dioxide emissions is responsible for the recent planetary warming. In fact, there are a lot of other reasons scientists have hypothesized that don't include humans.

As such, doesn't it make sense for us to be 100 percent certain before we begin making radical changes to our lives and the economy that could end up doing absolutely nothing to impact temperatures around the world?

This makes even more sense given this study's findings:

Warm, wet weather likely accelerated the rotting of plant material, which in turn triggered the methane burps from the Cobham Lignite bog, the researchers said.

Assuming that other wetlands responded in a similar way, such large amounts of methane could explain the extreme global warming seen at the time.

[...]

Because methane is a key greenhouse gas, some scientists worry that a similar scenario today could trigger a runaway greenhouse effect.

"Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so a big and rapid release of methane from wetland deposits would represent a huge and rapid positive feedback," said Dave Reay, a climate scientist at Edinburgh University who was not affiliated with the research.

But here was the key point that soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore, and all his not so merry sycophants in the media, will do their darnedest to make sure never gets reported:

Warmer, wetter weather is likely to promote methane release in wetlands worldwide, and scientists are concerned that this may make it almost impossible to keep a lid on greenhouse gas emissions.

"The wetland methane feedback effect could be equivalent to wiping out all the emissions cuts set out in the [1997 greenhouse gas reduction treaty] Kyoto Protocol," Edinburgh's Reay said.

In other words, homo sapiens could conceivably eliminate all of their carbon dioxide emissions, and not have the slightest impact on the climate.

Now there's an inconvenient truth the global warming alarmists will fight tooth and nail to prevent ever seeing the light of day.