Using methane hydrates before they cause disaster

Ref http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23432769 Arctic methane economic time bomb....

I have written about this several times over the years and as usual nobody cares what I think. So I will write a bit more now, helps vent exasperation and frustration about people-stuff too complicated for everybody's good.

Again I point out that we ought to be putting our effort into harvesting the methane ice as our major energy source, ceasing use of coal and oil at least for the present, as rapidly as possible in the changing over of hydrocarbon energy sources. This would both provide the world with abundant - and somewhat cleaner - energy for the foreseeable future - yet at a CO2 increase and O2 loss little different from existing coal and oil use - while slowly reducing the energy stored in the "time bomb" which the article points will involve an estimated $60 trillion in economic losses, a year's world produce lost - and note the article does not mention associated human misery involved, either. Dollars often is not really the total measure, but it is the easier one to calculate and talk about as business bottom line stuff.

The problems include developing the techniques for responsibly harvesting that tundra and undersea methane hydrates and using it in our powerplants and shipping, as well as getting Big Coal and Big Oil to rapidly transfer their efforts into methane hydrate harvesting while shutting down their coal and oil well production as fast as possible in the situation. Definitely not something big business would choose to do voluntarily, understandably, when business-as-usual is providing them the cushy life as-is; and obviously they do not consider the fate of the world's long term prospects as any business of theirs, as usual.

Same attitude that has crippled the "hoop kests to geo space escalator" technology for providing abundant economical energy for the world over the past twenty-four years: would compete with big oil and coal. Business games are quite out of my expertise, but it is in my expertise to see the disasters we are powerfully headed for largely due to the human ego thing and King Midas singleminded mentality.

Yet naive Asperger me still fantasizes that humanity could act responsibly in these things - the ideas all seem quite within easy technological reach, both the methane hydrate thing and the hoop space access thing. And they both could provide great constructive adventure for humanity, lots more fun than the current beating up on each other stuff. Plenty of drama potential, drama of the good kind in these large scale projects.