Thursday, February 24, 2011

Thawing permafrost feedback will turn Arctic from carbon sink to source in the 2020s, releasing 100 billion tons of carbon by 2100

from Climate Progress
Countless studies make clear that global warming will release vast quantities of GHGs into the atmosphere this decade.  Yet, no climate model currently incorporates the amplifying feedback from methane released by a defrosting tundra.
Now we find that this threat is worse than previously thought. A major new study by NOAA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) concludes that previous studies have underestimated the release of methane from the permafrost.

But, no matter. Nothing will deter the ruling classes from wasteful, destructive production and consumption in their mad pursuit of profits. Profits are to capitalists as heroin is to an addict. Heroin addicts often go to their deaths to feed their habit. I wouldn't mind if they, the capitalists perished in pursuit of their addiction, but the problem is that we working people share the same planet with them.