Sometimes knowledge is comforting but this is scary in the extreme. We know the climate is changing and changing rapidly due to increased levels of carbon in the air. The CO₂ we are spewing in the air has been the major cause of the temperature increase by our burning fossil fuels. Some of our damage is from burning natural gas, methane, which reduces the damage to CO₂ levels. Methane is thirty times more damaging than carbon dioxide. We bring up methane from deep underground and animals create some, but the growing release is from gas well leakage and the thawing of the tundra. We are working to stop the well leakage but with each passing day thousands of megatons from the melting tundra are released blocking the radiant heat from escaping.

            The damage we have caused is melting the Greenland glacier and some of the Antarctic glaciers. This plus heat expansion of the oceans is going to raise the oceans over thirty feet flooding the world’s coastal cities and hinterlands displacing over two billion people. The loss of all the world’s glaciers could raise the level to cover all of Florida, Louisiana, and several eastern states. The droughts and floods will increase in number and severity. Many areas that are now cool in winter will require air conditioning in a few decades.

            We have unintentionally raised the temperature but we have pushed the boulder over the top of the hill and it is starting to take up speed. We are trying to slow it down and probably too late. What we don’t know is how deep is the valley it is rolling into and how wide before the boulder can start rolling up the next hill. Will we still be around?