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