Wetland destruction = GHG emissions

Destroying wetlands leads to release of green house gases.

Some 60% of wetlands worldwide -- and up to 90% in Europe -- have been destroyed in the past 100 years, principally due to drainage for agriculture but also through pollution, dams, canals, groundwater pumping, urban development and peat extraction.

60%.

These waterlogged (either seasonally or year-round) areas contain an estimated 771 gigatonnes (771 billion tonnes) of greenhouse gases -- both CO2 and more potent methane -- an amount in CO2 equivalent comparable to the carbon content of today's atmosphere.

Bacterial Farts

New Scientist Bloggers write about how we should be more worried about methane than we should be about carbon dioxide.

From the blog:

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, warming the planet 25 times more, molecule-for-molecule, than CO2. It doesn't last as long in the atmosphere, which tempers its kick, but it's still enough to give you nightmares.

As Fred Pearce has reported, thawing Arctic permafrost could give off massive amounts of methane, which would warm the planet. Permafrost is basically frozen mud, and when it thaws, microbes start chewing it up, emitting both methane and CO2, the amounts depending on the temperature, how wet it is, and other factors.

If you want to track methane levels, you can click here on the NOAA link. To choose methane, under "Gas" select CH4.

Methane is produced by methanogens (methano - methane, gen - birth/generate), bacteria which generate methane as a metabolic byproduct. They're found in nature where there isn't much air (i.e., anaerobic conditions) and different types produce methane from different sources. Some use carbon dioxide to produce methane, others use longer chain carbon sources.

These are the same bugs used in anaerobic digestion to make methane that, when cleaned up, can be used as natural gas ... so they're definitely useful and can be used for practical applications.

Build a pond ...

... and help cut down on global warming.

Research led by Iowa State University limnologist, or lake scientist, John Downing finds that ponds around the globe could absorb as much carbon as the world's oceans.

Professor Downing found that constructed ponds and lakes on farmland in the United States bury carbon at a much higher rate than expected; as much as 20-50 times the rate at which trees trap carbon. In addition, ponds were found to take up carbon at a higher rate than larger lakes.

According to this report, the two major ways that carbon is stored in ponds is by runoff from the surrounding soil (which contains carbon - in the form of decomposing plant material), and from algae and other aquatic plants which use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.