PREFACE

This is part 3 of my multi-part Essay Series on Climate Change. Again, this was originally published at TOS, but I have cut the up original, edited it and have changed some things a bit editorially (broadened vocabulary, less expletives). I'm just being upfront about it's "content" differences with the original at TOS.

Some of this essay (most) I wrote months ago, and some if it is new, with updated info, opinion and or commentary. I'm no scientist, but my hope is to convey, as a basic ignorant citizen of this country, I get it, that climate change is an incredibly important issue, not just for me, or the US, but the entire planet, life on earth as we know it. (This one is a bit shorter than the others, so....)

Part - 1
Part - 2

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PERMAFROST - Perma-What?

What is permafrost? Sounds like a new frosting for donuts, no? Put some permafrost on it will ya, and gimme a cup of coffee to go....? Maybe it's a new fangled drink I can order at a bar, "Hey bartender, gimme a shot of permafrost, and one for the lady!". (It comes frozen with black (oil) and green (vegetation) stuff in it)

Permafrost is a very serious issue that many people in this country, and around the world, are not really aware of. All across the Northern hemisphere of our planet, which includes parts of Russia, Alaska, Northern Europe and Canada, is what is called permafrost.

This permafrost, which is basically frozen earth that is thousands of years old, contains twice as much carbon than what is currently in our atmosphere. ( ) In simple terms, as the Arctic warms, the permafrost in our Northern hemisphere thaws and releases carbon dioxide as well as melts frozen Methane, called Methane Hydrates, another greenhouse gas.

As a greenhouse gas, Methane has a “hidden” danger, molecule for molecule, it traps approximately 30 times more heat in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide. While Methane is detected at much smaller levels than carbon dioxide, what has many scientists worried(11) is how the Methane is being released into our atmosphere, the thawing of permafrost by rising Arctic temperatures on land, sea and the air, which all play a role in unbalancing our natural carbon “processing” system, and directly impacting other “systems”, affecting human survival. (plants / animals / fresh water)

Check out this video from NASA and watch them lite the melting methane in Alaska, as it bubbles up from beneath the surface.

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One of the really worrisome scenarios(12) about permafrost, is it’s potential for what’s called a sudden release that could trigger a significant tipping point of run away climate change.

From Geoengineeringwatch.org: - Methane Alert

Methane is an especially powerful gas. There are large amounts of methane presently locked up, frozen, in the high latitude tundra and , especially, in ocean sediments on continental shelves. We know from Earth's history that this frozen methane can be released suddenly by sufficient warming - thus this methane has the potential to greatly amplify human made global warming, if that warming reaches a level, a tipping point, such that large volumes of frozen methane begin to melt. - James Hansen, Club of Rome Speech, Amsterdam, 2009
(emphasis mine)

Snip

Risk of Catastrophic or Abrupt Change The possibility of abrupt climate change and/or abrupt changes in the earth system triggered by climate change, with potentially catastrophic consequences, cannot be ruled out. positive feedback from warming may cause the release of carbon or methane from the terrestrial biosphere and oceans which would add to the mitiga-tion
required.

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It's 2016 and we haven't done a damn thing about it since. (not that I'm aware of...)

Think about it, as I pointed out in Part - 2 of this series (Systems Overload), if our current natural carbon sinks can only process 40% of the additional carbon dioxide generated by human activity, how will our natural systems handle the additional release of carbon dioxide and methane that is generated by rapidly thawing permafrost?

Now, in one sense, since new land is exposed by melting snow and ice, more plants and vegetation are produced, which eat C02 (input) thus in part reducing carbon dioxide, that is apart of the natural system of carbon dioxide processing. But human's activity that produces additional carbon dioxide, an un-natural amount, over load our natural “processing” systems.

Additionally, the newly exposed dark blue oceans naturally absorb carbon as well, but in doing so, this process reduces the amount of oxygen in the oceans, which affects plant and animal life in our oceans, and also help push the PH level, which is normally in the Alkaline range into a more acidic PH range, which further impacts plant and animal life in our oceans, which impacts all human life. (Kill the fish and humanity is toast.) Not to mention contribute to the warming of the oceans around the Arctic, which creates more ice melting, but also reduces the amount, and thickness, of any new ice that is created during the winter months.

Just to reiterate, and as I mentioned in Part - 2:

The temperature of the air in the Arctic was recorded at it's highest levels since 1900 in 201510. A 2.9°C since the beginning of the 20th century.

The mean annual surface air temperature anomaly (+1.3°C relative to the 1981-2010 mean value) for October 2014-September 2015 for land stations north of 60°N is the highest value in the record starting in 1900 (Fig. 1.1). This is an increase of 2.3°C since the 1970s and 2.9°C since the beginning of the 20th century. The global rate of temperature increase has slowed in the last decade (Kosaka and Xie 2013), but Arctic air temperatures have continued to increase. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes.

Think about that. The Arctic has already passed the “magic number” of 1.5°C specified in the Paris Agreement. How are we going to hold the entire planet to 1.5°C?
(Bold emphasis mine)

This feedback process, melts more ice than normal and leads to less ice being created during the winter months. But, and what is really important about this, is that as the land mass warms, the permafrost thaws and releases additional amounts of both carbon and Methane, which gets tramped in our atmosphere, which produces more heat, and when a tipping point is reached, it will become completely uncontrollable, hence the term run away climate change and the death of humanity won't be to far off after that.

Think of it this way, only about 40% the carbon emission from human activity can be processed by our natural systems. So 60% is remaining in our atmosphere and our planetary systems are already overloading by this additional carbon. Add a healthy dose of methane and carbon release from permafrost, and hell on this planet is just a few years away. (Like it’s not here already in many parts of the globe)

It's simple, our natural planetary systems can only handle so much, and they are already overloaded, but we don't have “circuit” breakers to be able to mitigate that systems overload (tipping points), like we do with our home's electrical system.

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(PS: I know this is some really depressing stuff, but don't get depressed, get pissed off. Get really angry, I mean so expletive disgusted angry, so you can use that anger, to fuel you into engaging in direct action, even if it's only to write essays to wake people up. The more people we wake up to the realities of Climate Change, the better the odds are of saving humanity from the lunatic 1%. And that, is the root of what this is a really about, saving humanity from the 1%, no?

We are fighting for humanity's survival, so arguing about whether Hillary Clinton needs depends or not, doesn't matter! She is no friend to the people. She is just a puppet, a mere cheerleader for the 1%. Focus, people focus!)

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References:
11 - Woods Hole Research Center
12 - Geo Engineering Watch