Permafrost Melting and the Methane Crisis No One Expected
The wetlands tipping point is already here.
There’s a lot of noise these days about climate change, but something is happening that isn’t just another data point or small increase on the curve. Since 2007, methane emissions have been climbing steadily, and in 2020, they took a sharp turn for the worse.
Methane — a greenhouse gas that, in many ways, is even more dangerous than carbon dioxide — has started accumulating at alarming rates. And here’s the kicker: a good chunk of it is the kind that comes from melting permafrost and warming wetlands, not just human activity. If that sounds worrying, it should. Scientists are increasingly concerned that we may have already crossed a tipping point, a point of no return where natural processes start releasing methane into the atmosphere on their own, without any help from us.
Let’s walk through what’s going on with methane, how it got this bad, and what it might mean for all of us — and our kids. Because if these trends continue, it’s not just the environment on the line; it’s the very fabric of the lives we’ve built.
The History of a Potent Greenhouse Gas
Methane has always been in the atmosphere, but until recently, it existed in amounts that didn’t…
