 Let's talk about methane. Methane is the main component of fresh gas, sometimes called fossil gas or even natural gas. And while methane does occur naturally, there's nothing natural about the way that fossil fuel companies have been allowing it to leak into the atmosphere and speed up climate change. You see, methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. It's 86 times worse for warming our environment than carbon dioxide. Luckily, reducing methane emissions is one of the easiest and cheapest ways for the oil and gas sector to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. How you ask? One way is by eliminating venting. Venting is the harmless word we use to describe when an oil and gas company intentionally releases unburnt methane directly into the environment. There are many reasons why a company might do this. There are dispositive unwanted gases that came up during the fracking process or they need to depressurize their system. All of these are convenient for the oil and gas industry and disastrous for our climate. Venting is a type of emissions that makes up more than one-third of British Columbia's total oil and gas emissions. This is more than is produced by British Columbia's entire commercial building sector combined. The science is clear that we need a global shift away from fossil fuels. In the meantime, we need to do everything we can to reduce emissions from the oil and gas industry. This is why it's vital that our governments properly regulate these industries. Routine venting is totally legal in Canada and in British Columbia, but it shouldn't be. Recently, the Canadian government announced that it's prepared to introduce new regulations that eliminate venting and require provinces to follow suit. Show your support for these increased regulations by submitting a comment using the link in our bio.