Methane's Huge Impact

Per unit of volume, it is twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide when its impact is measured over the course of a century. When you consider its effects within a single decade, methane is 100 times as powerful as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas![5] Carbon levels in the atmosphere are about 385 parts per million (ppm) currently, whereas methane is only about 1.8 ppm. But because methane is so powerful, it has the potential to have significant impacts on the future of global warming.

Methane is created when bacteria break down organic matter under oxygen-starved conditions. This occurs when organic matter is trapped underwater, as in rice paddies. It also takes place in the intestines of herbivorous animals, such as cows, sheep, and goats. Because human agriculture has grown over time to engulf most of the arable land on the planet, it is now adding a lot of methane to the atmosphere. Landfills and leakage from natural gas fields (methane is a component of natural gas) are also significant sources of methane.

Clathrates are a hidden source of Methane. Clathrates are frozen chunks of ice and methane that rest at the bottom of the world's oceans. As the water warms, the ice melts, and the methane is released. If the current global warming, which is caused by humans, were to cause changes in the Earth's ocean currents, then a rapid melting of clathrates would be possible. This too would create a positive feedback loop that would cause further global warming. It is believed that some of the warming cycles in the Earth's history have been caused by the sudden thawing of clathrates.[6]