Month 3, Day 7: Got Methane?

The Arctic methane release continues to be my cause du jour. Not much to add here; I just took yesterday’s letter, shuffled some of the clauses, exchanged synonyms and made it germane to the job description of the Secretary of State instead of the President.

Dear Secretary Clinton,

I write to urge you to initiate international action on a very disturbing component of the global climate crisis. According to a just-published article in the journal Science the sub-sea permafrost that has kept gigatonnes of methane locked in for thousands of years is now melting.

Methane is 25 times as powerful as carbon dioxide in trapping heat, which will accelerate the greenhouse effect even further — and the effects of adding such quantities of this greenhouse gas into the atmosphere have not yet been included into climate scientists’ prediction models. Our current “worst-case” scenarios are probably over-optimistic.

Our government needs to spearhead an international effort to address this crisis before it is too late. We would like to see all the nations of the world form a unified response to this common threat, combining our resources, skills and innovations to keep our planet safe for our children and their children and their children’s children after them. We would like to see the United States of America leading this effort, earning the gratitude of generations to come.

I urge you to make the multiple elements of the looming climate crisis (atmospheric CO2, Arctic methane release and oceanic acidification) a major area of concern in your dealings with the international community.

There is no time to lose.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours Sincerely,

Warren Senders