ARCTIC MELTING COST: 60 TRILLION

The methane released by the shrinking of the arctic has a high cost to our environment and our lives.  We will pay with our pocketbooks and health.


Billions upon billions of tons of methane remain stored in the permafrost throughout the Arctic regions, but specific concern has been placed on the enormous reserves that sit locked beneath the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. Scientists have repeatedly warned that if these deposits—many frozen in the form of methane hydrates—were released, they would trigger massive feedback loops and dramatically increase the rate of global warming.
The new study confirms these established fears, but also looks at the potential social and economic costs that would follow.


http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/24