Methane releases have been happening for a while. I am sure I remember seeing some footage of someone burning the sea on a telly doc a while ago. Don't get me wrong, this is not a good thing but it has not only just started happening. It is also probably inevitable that it will continue/finish as we can't stop the planet warming up considerably more anyway. If you're Russian or Canadian you may not mind. If you live in subcnotinental Asia then you are screwed. Anywhere else will probably adapt to some degree.

BTW, anybody else read Mother of Storms by John Barnes?