The world used to be warmer than it is.
The poles were warm. About 55 million years ago Azolla was growing in
the Arctic regions. It certainly grew in fresh water lakes and rivers. It may even have grown in the Arctic Ocean. At that time the Arctic Ocean was almost completely enclosed by land. It may have formed layers with fresh water
on top. As the Azolla plants died they would have sunk and not
decayed. This locked up huge amounts of Carbon and the Carbon Dioxide
level in the atmosphere dropped from 3500 Parts per Million to about
650, and the world got much colder. Ice caps formed at both Poles.
The Sea Level dropped.
In the Arctic there are fossils of Azolla. There are
also gigantic reserves of usable energy. This may be in the form of oil
or coal. There are certainly huge amounts of Methane Hydrates. This is
a mineral made up of water and methane. The methane can be released by
heating. Methane is ‘Natural Gas’ which can be used. So far, economic
methods of releasing this methane on a very large scale have not been developed. This does
not mean it is impossible, far from it, and people are experimenting to
find ways of using the methane hydrates.
