 Let's talk about methane, part 2. Methane is the main component of fracked gas, sometimes called fossil gas or 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 of the first ways is by eliminating venting. And if you haven't seen our reel in venting, check it out. A second way is to eliminate flaring. Flaring, like venting, is used to dispose of unwanted gases or to reduce pressure. But this time they burn the gas in a flare stack, like the one behind me when disposing of it. Not only does this practice add additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it doesn't completely burn all the methane in the process, meaning that some methane is still released directly into the atmosphere. Flaring is a type of emitting that's been historically undercounted, maybe because companies are allowed to self-report their emissions. Because trusting the oil and gas industry to do the right thing has never been a problem. In fact, a peer reviewed study from 2021 found that the oil and gas sector was possibly emitting more than twice the amount of methane than previously reported. The science is clear. 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. Flaring 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 flaring and require provinces to follow suit. Show your support for these increased regulations by submitting a comment using the link in our bio.