To speak on behalf of the bee in my bonnet before we finish killing off all the bees.

Let’s address some social media blather proposing the willy nilly chlorination of the global air for the purpose of methane reduction…

The idea is we spew endless amounts of chemicals into the air that break down with sunlight releasing active chlorine that chemically destroys high and rising methane, a terrible greenhouse gas.

Keep in mind the question of the apocolyptic impact on vital and healthy natural phytoncides.

Phytoncides, volatile chemicals produced by all green plants are what you smell when you can smell such plant life whether in a forest, rose garden, or amongst the phytoplankton out to sea. They are found in the air at levels of 1 part per billion and less, and at such concentrations are widely reported in decades of scientific literature to help sustain healthy immune systems in all air-breathing life on this planet.

For insects like my friends the bees phytoncides are more than merely natural health supplements, they are the nexus of countless insect evolutionary design. For the rest of us, there is a long history of ethnobiological lore on the healthy effects of breathing in, even bathing in the healthy air of forests and other natural spaces.

For a healthy living planet, we need the Phytoncides vs. Methane scales to tip in favour of ???

Phytoncide chemicals are at least as vulnerable, I would posit far more vulnerable, to destruction by the same methods being proposed for methane reduction, such as Iron Salt Aerosols and variations on that theme. Methane in the air is found at levels a thousand times that of health-producing phytoncides, so it is clear that any achieved chemically induced atmospheric methane reduction will have an immensely more powerful effect in destroying vital natural phytoncides.

Just to toot a bit about my favourite topic, the destruction of ocean pasture blooms has already gravely impacted and drastically reduced global levels of vital healthy phytoncides. Marine phytoncides are responsible for being the nucleation seeds of the vast majority of clouds that used to keep this blue planet a bit cooler. But hey, what’s a healthy planetary atmosphere 🙁 when one can forget about the complexities of ecology and instead be happy dabbling ….

Click the image read more about Phytoncide cloud formation