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One could say that we have a beef with the rising amount of methane (CH4) in the atmosphere: although this powerful greenhouse gas breaks down much faster than carbon dioxide, it traps 86 times more heat than CO2 over a 20-year span. Human activity has been the chief source of the increase in modern CH4 levels, having increased by about 150 percent since 1750, with about half of all human-generated methane coming from our livestock — particularly from the planet’s 1.5 billion cows. However, a new study has found that spicing a cow’s feed with simple seaweed can cut a burping bovine’s methane production by up to 99 percent.
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The sound of running water has long been associated with positive health benefits, and the appealing sound of a babbling brook can be found on many recordings intended to aid relaxation and induce sleep. No countryside picnic is complete without the sweet singing of a shallow stream somewhere nearby, and water features that emulate the delicate rippling of water rivulets over rocks are popular additions to gardens all over the world.

Unfortunately new research suggests that the bubbles coming from freshwater sources may be a key and currently unaccounted for source of methane, the second-largest greenhouse gas contributor to human-driven global climate change.
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NASA reports that a recent lull in the sun’s activity did not prevent the Earth from absorbing more solar energy than could escape back into space. This means that climate change is mainly caused by human activity–not the sun, as some people would like to think.

This imbalance (more energy coming in than leaving) is what drives global warming, and because it occurred during a period when the sun was emitting comparatively low levels of energy, it means we have to clean up our act and curb greenhouse gases. read more

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While the world is debating regulations to try to cut down on their emissions of the greenhouse gas Carbon Dioxide, in order to slow down the increase in global warming, scientists have discovered that the activity of a single enzyme, phenol oxidase, in peat bogs is the only thing preventing a massive release of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Inside these wet, oxygen-poor bogs, which stretch from Scotland to Siberia, the enzyme’s activity is low and thus it can’t set off the decomposition that would send huge volumes of CO2 into the air.
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