Thom Hartmann: Is a Sleeping Giant Stirring in the Arctic?

[thomhartmann]

Carbon in our atmosphere is a principal driver of climate change. And there's a massive amount of carbon locked up in the earth's northern polar region. So, NASA has decided to find out exactly how much carbon is in the Arctic region and how stable or unstable it might be and how it's reacting to climate change. Joining me now for more on this is Dr. Charles Miller - Research Scientist & principal investigator of the Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment (CARVE) - a five-year NASA-led field campaign studying how climate change is affecting the Arctic's carbon cycle.

The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 9pm and 11pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings

[railsback]

1. I hope no one is shocked by this - like the NSA

Been discussed for years.

And Also, permafrost, thawing, releasing gobs of methane.. boom!

[kestrel91316]

2. They now think that thawing of ocean methane clathrates is what made the great Permian extinction

so devastating to all life on earth. It made for a mega-warming situation - 10 degrees, and not the mere 1-3 we are so worried about.

[railsback]

3. Seems like we're creating one world sized nuclear bomb

I hope we come to our senses really fast.

[HumansAndResources]

5. And What Caused *That* Warming?

We don't know - and we don't know what is driving it now, either. We do know that past warming preceded CO2 increases, not followed, a fact on which "An Inconvenient Truth" was entirely misleading. The "hockey stick graph" was also bunk.

This is why I tend to focus on known-toxins / carcinogens like Benzene, Mercury, Radiation, GP (Round Up), etc. Cutting those out of our ecosystem would save / extend millions of lives - and cost the Transnationals billions in revenue. It would also reduce CO2 emissions as a welcome side-effect, as many of those toxins come from burning so-called "fossil" fuels.

Contrast this to a "Cap and Trade" system, which provides "our" Rulers with another racket to run - and an excuse to make self-sufficiency "illegal" for millions around the world via regulations. Arrests for the crime of "Kindling a fire without a license," may sound silly now,, but ...

To be clear, I love some of Hartmann's other positions - the "Wage Neutralizing Tariff" being at the top of that list.

[kestrel91316]

6. They think a meteor strike triggered a cascade of events including massive

lava flows from huge volcanos and quakes. It took about 10,000 years for everything to die off.

We know exactly what is doing it this time - WE are - and we are doing it much faster. Nothing will have time to make adaptive changes.

That's going to be the end of my response to you because I think GW deniers are pond scum.

[peoli]

7. "We don't know" that man made CO2 emissions emitted since the industrial revolution

are causing global warming? Really? Should we just keep 'talking' about it? Should we just keep having a 'robust conversation' about it?

[blackspade]

11. Climate change denial...fail

You need to read more on the subject obviously.

[blackspade]

4. Crap, we are so fucked.

Thanks to our corporate overlords.
Assholes.

[drynberg]

8. Agreed

This is the unvarnished truth...

[90-percent]

9. Ahh, "we" aren't so fucked

It's future generations and the not yet born that are really really fucked with a capital "F"!

Real nice legacy my baby boomer generation is wreaking on the future, isn't it? Hey it was worth it to afford the .001% their $50,000 a day salaries. Home auto elevators and private jets don't pay for themselves, you know!

-90% Jimmy

[blackspade]

10. It was species 'we' rather than the more immediate 'we'

It truly is a shame that our species is willing to fuck over future generations for a quick buck.