Scientists
at Edinburgh University in Scotland have observed a 31% increase in
methane emitted by high latitude permafrost, or Arctic tundra, in just
the past five years. They also note that global warming in the Arctic is
occurring at twice the rate as anywhere else on Earth, with some
regions having already warmed by 2.5 degrees Celsius.
Dr.
Phillippe Ciais with the Laboratory for Climate Sciences and the
Environment in France reported in 2009 that vast stores of methane could
be released with just a 2 degree Celsius average global rise. As Arctic
soils store billions of tons of the gas, which has far more warming
potential than carbon dioxide, the thawing of this region could create
what has been called a “ticking timebomb” that would overwhelm any human
efforts to halt it.
Dr. Ciais and University of Edinburgh
researchers, we appreciate your observations and their resounding call
to action. Let us step urgently while we still have time toward
sustainable solutions that preserve our planet.
Supreme Master
Ching Hai has often emphasized the critical danger of triggering such a
methane release, as well as what we can do to halt it, as during
September 2009 videoconference in South Korea.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
I would say that the most serious one is the frightening prospect of
runaway global warming, described by scientists as the conditions that
will trigger out-of-control climate change effects.
This runaway
warming of the climate could easily be caused by melting permafrost,
which is the frozen soil extending across the vast expanse of the Arctic
tundra.
As the permafrost melts, it releases methane stored
underground. Since 2007, scientists have seen more and more evidence of
methane from permafrost melt, with recent discoveries of pure methane
gas bubbling up from
the bottom of the Arctic lakes in both northern Canada and Russia.
The
more people who eliminate meat and, indeed, all animal products from
their lives, the more we have a chance to save the planet and not only
that, to actually restore our earthly home to her original grace and
beauty and even more so, more than what we have known, more beautiful,
more abundant, more peace, more gladness than what we have known up to
now.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/14/arctic-permafrost-methane http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8459770.stmhttp://www.news.com.au/arctic-greenhouse-gas-emissions-jump-30pc/story-e6frflrr-1225820280873
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