Keith has created another wonderful article over at The Earth Blog. This time he is talking about the problems with methane, a potent green house gas.

What will be the most serious threat to life on this planet in the next 50 years? Go on, ask someone.

What did they say? “Carbon dioxide emissions”, “marine pollution”, “deforestation”? Maybe if they thought for a little longer some might say, “the way that human beings are living their lives.”

I think, on balance, I would go along with the latter, but one phrase has been haunting me since I started researching this article: “methane hydrates”. Those two words may not be familiar to most people, but I am starting to realise that if I had to pick out just one specific reason to fear the future, methane hydrates would be it. I would add, though, that this selfsame knowledge, if spread widely enough, may buy us enough time to give life on Earth a fighting chance. First, though, I’m going to talk about eggs.

Read the rest of this very very good article here. Keith always writes very well researched and in depth articles, this one is no different. If anything he has outdone himself in addressing a problem a lot of us (even those of us into this sort of thing) don’t think about often.