The ‘first’ hole, blasted into the Siberian permafrost several weeks ago. The explosion was made by something INSIDE–it wasn’t a meteor. From Siberian Times.

For those of you joining late, several weeks ago, authorities in Russia were taken aback to find that a giant hole had appeared in a field in Siberia. Latest news from the climate front–TWO MORE LARGE HOLES have appeared in the Siberian tundra.  One has been around since last September–noticed by the locals, but not reported. The other was discovered by a herder, who almost fell into it. Both have the same characteristics  as the large hole reported recently(though they are much smaller). While scientists have not made their way to the locations, there is speculation that all three were caused by methane explosions. While some are arguing that the holes were caused by pingos, the fact that locals had heard an explosion when the September hole opened seems to make that supposition less likely.

The holes DO square with the feedback loop mechanism I mentioned in an earlier post—melting of the Siberian permafrost has released methane, which has built up to explosive proportions. The dirt patterns around the holes seems to indicate an explosion.  The locals around the second explosion in Yamal Peninsula (along the same terrain as the first explosion) say as much. Meanwhile, Dr. Natalia Shakhova, who leads the Russia-U.S. Methane Study at the International Arctic Research Center, has dire warnings about the release of Arctic methane. Per this news conference, she expresses great concern about the status of the warming of the Arctic–and only 1% of the sequestered methane would need to be released in order to face climate calamity.  She talks of her travels up to the research center, where Arctic Ice has gone from 3 meters thick to 40 centimeters thick in less than a decade. And you can see the consternation and worry in her face as she speaks. Because (although she isn’t saying it in so many words), the global heating that would arise from a multi-gigaton release of methane would heat the planet to the point where we’d be facing near-term extinction. As in enough heat to seal the deal on global climate disaster.

You’d think this would make the news, right?

In the lectures I’ve seen on global warming and especially climate collapse, there seems to be a mechanism at work where the Northern and Southern hemispheres will meet their fate at different times. The South, with much less in the way of land mass to heat (and relatively little in the way of carbon-belching industry relative to the Northern hemisphere) will probably not heat up as quickly as the North. Folks to the South may have as much as a decade or so more of livable climate than their friends who stay in Europe or North America. So, if the predictions are that things get dicey for the smart ape species in the North by 2035, it might be 2047 for the Aussies and Kiwis. Throw another shrimp on the barbie, mate.

Which brings me to the title of this rambling bit of prose. There’s a new interview series on YouTube with Guy McPherson, the environmental scientist who connected the dots between warming and human habitat and came up with a drawing that shows near-term  human extinction. You can check out the whole series here—there are some 14 as of right now (most are relatively short).  But I want to draw your attention to one particular video. As I noted, I had posted last year about the Zombie Apocalypse and other threats to our existence. There’s climate change, of course. There’s the possibility that we’ll start splitting atoms over Ukraine with Russia. And Fukushima continues to bubble away. But I wrote of the possibility that ALL of these problems were on the radar of our leaders, and none of them had anything to gain by blowing the whistle.

And here it is. Per McPherson, the one percent of the one percent have made their plans. They are buying property below the equator against the day they need to get out of town. McPherson discusses it here. And he explains it as one would to a naive child–of COURSE the president knows we’re facing extinction. And his people know and the NSA knows. There are literally thousands of ‘intelligence operatives’ on the federal payroll, plus more science horse-power than you can shake a stick at. They have to know. And of course they aren’t the only ones. Obviously the elite have the money and the wherewithal to buy themselves a few acres of land in the coastal parts of Australia. But for God’s Sake don’t tell the great unwashed that the planet is gone and the only way to squeeze out another few years is heading for Kiwi land. One can look upon this as the ultimate game of kick-the-can. Somebody’s going to be caught holding the bag when everything breaks loose–McPherson’s interviewer points out that the goal of the silence may be avoiding revolution. And Guy’s response is that maybe revolution is a good thing.

So they DON’T plan to tell us.

“No Matter how cynical you get, it’s impossible to keep up“. Lily Tomlin