I have no problem with the fact that in just about every line of research there is plenty more to know. Such is the joy of life, work and moving forward to see what's next.
I am criticizing the people who have taken generalized titles like 'environmentalist' and then run around pretending that they are expert in anything, when in fact, they know nothing but one idea which they apply universally with equally uninformed results.
"Should large quantities of methane be released from methane hydrates, for instance, in association with permafrost thaw, then we could have large sudden increases in atmospheric methane with potentially large affects on global temperatures."
It may well be that drilling for the oil and extracting the gas are what will 'save the enviroment'.
I have heard speculation that the vast undersea frozen methane ice fields could be mined with robots. As the methane ice was removed, it would be allowed to warm, then the gas ignited to provide energy. Some of this energy would be used to create dry ice, that would serve several purposes.
To start with, it would replace much of the volume of the methane ice, to help prevent tunnel collapse. And being very cold, it would reduce the temperature of the methane ice to prevent explosion. And the CO2 would go further when sublimated, by preventing accidental fire because of sparks.
As it sublimated, it would be replaced with ordinary water ice.
As an aside, just within the past few days, it was learned that the mid-Atlantic ocean doesn’t just absorb vast amounts of atmospheric CO2, but also absorbs vast amounts of atmospheric ozone and methane. This is a new discovery, and has very important implications in the MMGW models.