“Emissions of the greenhouse gas methane into
the atmosphere can be traced back thousands of years in the Greenland ice
sheet. Using special analytical methods, researchers … have determined how much
methane originates from natural sources and how much is due to human activity.
The results go all the way back to Roman times and up to the present, where
more than half of the emissions are now human-made.” Researchers can tell how
the atmosphere was by measuring trapped air bubbles in the ice. This graph shows
that Romans increased levels of methane by burning wood to make weapons and
heating, and that in the year 1800, the industrial revolution, methane in the atmosphere
has increased exponentially. Solutions to this problem is less rice patties and
a smaller meat industry.
Well methane is definetly a problem if we have to much of it in the air. Mostly because it can increase global warming. But, it's really doubtful, unless we can show them physical proof that it's harming the earth, that we could get everyone in this country to eat less meat.
ReplyDeleteThat is really neat that they can track how the atmosphere was thousands of years ago. I would think that the methane levels back then would be a lot better than they are now. Back then they didn’t have all the transportation and pollution that we have today. But, it all did start at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. When the factories had come to America, those were the first major signs of pollution and it all has just been going downhill from there. I think if we would have stayed in the hunter-gatherer times from then to now our methane levels would be incredibly lower. But life wouldn’t be as fun.
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