Been hearing about the methane monster that’s going to cook the planet? The Independent, Salon, Mother Jones, Alternet, Arctic News, and the Arctic Methane Emergency Group have all trumpeted it, and the methane message becomes the more dire as we approach Paris, with 5-alarm fires raging at TruthOut and Real News Network. Irreversible positive feedback loop: warming Arctic releases methane that warms the air that releases more methane that warms the air that releases more methane until we all fry! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Except that the scare is about as real as Oz. Get the full refutation by Larry Kummer in “The easy solution to the looming monster methane apocalypse.” Thawing permafrost is likely to consume more methane than it releases. IPCC’s projections of atmospheric methane concentration are all above actual observations, as seen in the graph above. (Not mentioned: The infrared bands absorbed by methane are about saturated, meaning more methane means little or no more warming.)

 

 

Featured image courtesy of IPCC.