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Comment by ppf | Hacker News Reader

As a slight tangent - if the greenhouse effect of CO2 is so catastrophic that we need to mandate the destruction of (Western) energy companies, as well as enormous lifestyle changes in the near future, then why aren't we as worried about methane? The US emitted 1/8th the amount of methane as CO2[1], but methane has 30x the greenhouse potential.

[1] https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases

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While methane has a much larger effect it also leaves the atmosphere much faster rate.

Methane released to the atmosphere is gone in about 12 years while CO2 takes over 100 years.

So over the lifetime of the gasses methane will have a smaller effect as it just does not stay around for as long.

Also CO2 is mainly absorbed into the oceans acidifying them which is another huge issue we are facing now.

300 to 1000 years for CO2, according to NASA [1].

[1] https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2915/the-atmosphere-getting-a-...

That graph shows CO2 equivalent, so the 30x is already calculated in there. But yes, we are also worried about methane.

The text below the graph does give a total for US emissions of CO2 equivalent, but it's not clear if that's what the graph actually shows.

We are. Most work focuses on GHG (Green house gases) or Co2E (CO2 equivalent which includes methane and other gases). You'll see methane listed specifically as a reason to cut red meat (because cow farts are a major source of methane) for instance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_potential

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