In
two concurring studies, researchers from Canada’s Université Laval and
Sweden’s Lund University have found that the permanently frozen ground
known as permafrost is melting at southern latitudes.
In the
case of Canada’s James Bay region, the permafrost layer now begins 130
kilometers north of where it had been 50 years ago. In Sweden,
scientists found over a several-year period that the permafrost in one
peat mire region completely disappeared. The Canadian researchers also
noted a temperature rise of some 2 degrees Celsius over the last two
decades, saying that if this continues, permafrost in the James Bay
region will vanish.
Not only is the melting of permafrost a sign
of acute global warming, scientists have warned previously that its
effects include the collapse of entire communities, which has already
been seen in Arctic locations like Alaska, USA.
Worse yet are
the vast underground stores of methane that are released as the
permafrost melts, with tipping points beyond which runaway global
warming is inevitable.
We thank you for your careful
observations, Canadian and Swedish scientists, despite our alarm at what
they foretell. May everyone turn to harmonious lifestyles that sustain
our environment while there is still time.
As in a September 2009
videoconference held in Peru, Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently
spoken of such warning signs as permafrost melt, along with the way we
can all act to halt it.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
US and Canadian scientists traveling to the Arctic have noted increased
methane gas being released from the Earth’s melting permafrost, which
is storing immense amounts of methane beneath the frozen surface. Other
research has also highlighted how quickly the temperature is rising in
the Arctic, much faster than in the rest of the world.
This means
a vast quantity of methane could be released from the previously frozen
soil very quickly, which would be a complete disaster for life on
Earth.
One fact is clear: if we stop meat consumption and
livestock raising, we will also eliminate one of the most heat-trapping
gases, which is methane.
And since this gas disappears more quickly from the atmosphere, the planet will cool almost immediately.
This
will also address problems like the melting permafrost, which will
otherwise emit more methane if nothing is done to halt it.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100217101129.htmhttp://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE61G5BG20100217?sp=true http://www5.fsa.ulaval.ca/http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090218081629.htm
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