Charlie Buttrey

February 9, 2024

Every four years I remind my gentle readers that the single most important issue in a Presidential election is judicial appointments.

I may be changing my mind. It is perhaps time to put climate change at the top of the list.

According to THIS article at the Dartmouth College website, we may soon be in a world of hurt as a result of climate change. Specifically, while permafrost — that thick layer of soil that stays frozen for two or more years at a time — is the reason that Arctic rivers are uniformly confined to smaller areas and shallower valleys than rivers to the south, it is also an increasingly fragile reservoir of vast amounts of carbon. The researchers calculate that as climate change weakens Arctic permafrost and polar waterways churn up the thawing soil, every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (or 1 degree Celsius) of global warming could release as much carbon as 35 million cars emit in a year. And as this carbon is released, warming the planet, it will cause more carbon to be released, warming the planet, until we are in what scientists call a “feedback loop” but is more properly understood as a “death spiral.”

Research suggests that the Arctic has warmed by more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels, or roughly since 1850. Scientists estimate that a gradual thawing of Arctic permafrost could release between 22 billion and 432 billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2100 if current greenhouse gas emissions are reined in—and as much as 550 billion tons if they are not, she says.

By comparison, the world spewed more than 36 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2022, and that was an all-time high.

© 2020 Charlie Buttrey Law by Nomad Communications