Worms are now being blamed for Global Warming!
In the mountains of Puerto Rico, biogeochemist Xiaoming Zou has found a tiny earthworm that he estimates releases carbon from soil 20% to 30% faster than other earthworms do.
National Geographic Adventure magazine thinks this is cause for alarm because the worm has “the potential to rapidly accelerate global warming” by “devouring organic material at breakneck speed.”
The precious little worm is Pontoscolex corethrurus.
Decomposing soil produces 10 times as much carbon dioxide as the burning of all fossil fuels combined, according to Professor Zou. So why is everyone hysterical about emissions from burning fossil fuels? The carbon dioxide released by the oceans and by earth dwarfs man-generated CO2. Man’s greenhouse gas emissions are negligible compared with those of nature.
National Geographic even goes so far as to recommend that fishermen NOT use bait worms—or at least destroy the leftovers—so that worms do not multiply and exacerbate the feared “global warming by worms” problem.
Fish Caught with Worm
Ad for Bait Worms
Global warming alarmists blame everything on global warming, regardless of whether there is a demonstrable connection or not.
On Tuesday October 23 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said, “One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming.” Reid did not offer any scientific basis for a connection between the California wildfires and greenhouse gas emissions—there is none.
(See Wildfires Get Personal for Lawmakers in The Hill, 10/24/2007, for Reid’s quote.)
People have gone berserk over global warming. For a sane analysis and Biblical perspective on Global Warming, see these June 2007 Bible-Science newspaper columns:
Global Warming
Global Warming in the Bible (sidebar on second page).
Soli Deo Gloria.
Reference: “Fight Global Warming with a Shovel,” National Geographic Adventure magazine, Oct 2007, page 68.
Read the sequel:
Candle Warming
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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:4)
Mon Oct 29, 2007 A.D.
Read my October 2007 Bible-Science column:
Noah’s Flood—A Global Event.
But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; and let the fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
(Job 12:7-10)
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Bible-Science Guy 
Perhaps if these worms were introduced to California they could eat more quickly the dead underbrush and thereby reduce wildfires. In any case, a few worms eating all the food faster or a lot of worms eating all the food slower, or the bacteria eating all the food, or a fire consuming all the food, the net CO2 released will be the same.
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By: Daniel DeWalt on June 12, 2013
at 10:13 am
sorry to burst your bubble… During the first 3–4 weeks earthworms significantly (P<0.05) increased CO2 emissions by 16% to 28%. In contrast, significantly lower (P<0.05) CO2 emission rates were measured after 11 weeks. The data suggest that earthworm activity was high during the first weeks due to the creation of burrows and incorporation of beech litter into the mineral soil. the worms are only found in a few locations around the world. and not a factor in climate change to any extent.
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By: qru on January 1, 2014
at 2:22 pm
I agree with you that earthworms are not a factor in global warming. I was just sarcastically reporting National Geographic’s alarmism on the subject.
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By: BibleScienceGuy on January 3, 2014
at 10:46 pm