Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

People like to think that, because we have airplanes and the Internet, we’re now free from old-fashioned means of transports, like ocean-going vessels. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that a huge amount of cargo still is transported by ships on the Earth’s oceans.

But what if that were to change? What if, all of a sudden, the oceanic cargo industry were brought to a standstill?

That could happen, and it could happen soon.

Right now, at the bottom of the ocean, there are huge formations of methane, frozen solid. They’re called gas hydrates.

Every now and then, a chunk of these methane gas hydrates breaks free and rises to the surface, melting into a pure explosive gas in the process. Scientists have theorized that these bubbles are large enough, they could sink ships travelling across the ocean’s surface, drowning them in one great big burp.

But, what if the frozen methane on the oceans’ floors broke free all at once? The oceans would become a frothing mass of water, covered over by a layer of highly flammable gas! The world’s marine shipping industry would be brought to a standstill! People would starve! Riots in the street would bring democratic governments around the world into a state of violent chaos! Libraries would burn, and the sum of human knowledge would be lost!

Then, the methane would rise into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming and setting off further gigantic methane discharges from a warming ocean in an unstoppable cascade of events that would turn planet Earth into a gigantic fireball!

Hey, what is Congress doing about this problem? This could happen at any moment! Beware!