A new United States federal government report has found that the hydropower dams on the Columbia River have flooded villages and disrupted ways of life, while continuing to harm Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest.

The report, Historic and Ongoing Impacts of Federal Dams on the Columbia River Basin Tribes, was released by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). It is part of an agreement made by the Biden-Harris administration to acknowledge the harms inflicted upon Pacific Northwest Native American Tribes and restore wild salmon to the Columbia River Basin, a press release from the DOI said.

“Since time immemorial, Tribes along the Columbia River and its tributaries have relied on Pacific salmon, steelhead and other native fish species for sustenance and their cultural and spiritual ways of life. Acknowledging the devastating impact of federal hydropower dams on Tribal communities is essential to our efforts to heal and ensure that salmon are restored to their ancestral waters,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in the press release.

The report details the historic, cumulative and ongoing impacts 11 dams constructed on the Snake and Columbia Rivers have had on eight Columbia River Basin Tribes, reported The Seattle Times.

The federal report also gives recommendations for ways the U.S. government can further its responsibilities to Tribes through the acknowledgment and integration of these damaging impacts into future actions, the press release said. It is the first time the federal government has provided a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing harms caused by the dams to Pacific Northwest Tribes.

As part of the agreement made last year between the U.S. and the Tribes, the federal government pledged $1 billion for the restoration of wild salmon and the facilitation of green energy production, but did not provide for dam removal, The Seattle Times reported.

The report “fulfills a commitment made by the Department as part of stayed litigation in National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service,” the press release said. “In December 2023, the Administration also announced an historic agreement to restore salmon populations in the Lower Basin, expand Tribally sponsored clean energy production, and provide stability for communities that depend on the Columbia River System for agriculture, energy, recreation and transportation.”

The report looks at how, in less than 100 years, Native Americans in the Columbia River Basin — and the river itself — were tragically changed by the dams, reported The Seattle Times. It also asks federal agencies to recognize Tribal expertise in the restoration of wild salmon runs while taking immediate and substantial next steps.

“To have the recognition of not just historical traumas but also present has been personally impactful,” said Jeremy Takala, Yakama Nation councilmember, as The Seattle Times reported. “I live over here in Goldendale, like lots of [T]ribal folks living along the river and still dealing with the impacts… There are still unfulfilled obligations.”

As many as 16 million wild steelhead and salmon once made their return journey to Pacific Northwest tributaries annually, providing sustenance for Tribal members and more than 130 species of wildlife.

“Since time immemorial, members of these Tribes and their ancestors stewarded these native species and relied upon their abundance as the staples of their daily diets and ceremony,” the press release said. “The construction of large multipurpose, hydroelectric dams throughout the Columbia River Basin beginning at the turn of the 20th century blocked anadromous fish from migrating into certain reaches of the Basin, flooded thousands of acres of land, sacred sites, and ancestral burial grounds, and transformed the ecosystem. As a result, many Tribal communities lost access to anadromous fish in their communities.”

The report specifies how the traumatic effects of the dams have altered traditional diets and taken away the ability of Tribal members to fully exercise their ancient ways of life, while fundamentally changing how they teach and raise their children with the cultural and spiritual traditions centering around these fish.

Recommendations for how the federal government can further its trust responsibility while making the Columbia River Basin healthy and resilient for future generations include fully taking into consideration and integrating the inequities suffered by the Tribes into future reviews of the National Environmental Policy Act; continuing to pursue co-management and co-stewardship agreements; moving forward with the consolidation of Tribal homelands; and integrating Indigenous knowledge into federal decision making.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to honoring our federal commitments to Tribal Nations, the Interior Department will continue to pursue comprehensive and collaborative basin-wide solutions to restore native fish populations, empower Tribes, and meet the many resilience needs of communities across the region,” Haaland said in the press release.

The post U.S. Government Publishes First Thorough Analysis of Harm Done to Indigenous Groups by Columbia River Dams appeared first on EcoWatch.

The State of Global Air Report 2024 has revealed that an average of around 2,000 children, aged 5 and younger, are dying every day from poor air quality.

The study, by the Health Effects Institute (HEI) in partnership with UNICEF, linked 8.1 million deaths of people of all ages in 2021 to air pollution. The report determined that in 2021, around 709,000 deaths of children under 5 years could be connected to air pollution, making poor air quality responsible for around 15% of global deaths of children 5 years and younger.

“We hope our State of Global Air report provides both the information and the inspiration for change,” HEI President Dr. Elena Craft said in a press release. “Air pollution has enormous implications for health. We know that improving air quality and global public health is practical and achievable.”

As The Guardian reported, air pollution is now the second biggest cause of death globally, behind high blood pressure. Air pollution has overtaken smoking and other tobacco use. For children, poor air quality is the No. 2 killer behind malnutrition.

“Despite progress in maternal and child health, every day almost 2,000 children under 5 years die because of health impacts linked to air pollution,” said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Kitty van der Heijden. “Our inaction is having profound effects on the next generation, with lifelong health and wellbeing impacts. The global urgency is undeniable. It is imperative governments and businesses consider these estimates and locally available data and use it to inform meaningful, child-focused action to reduce air pollution and protect children’s health.” 

According to the report, fine particulate matter pollutants, or PM2.5, was responsible for more than 90% of air pollution-related global deaths in 2021. Fine particulates can enter the lungs and blood stream, increasing risk of lung cancer, heart disease and stroke. Sources of PM2.5 include fossil fuel plants, industrial facilities, transportation, wildfires and even fuel combustion at home for activities like cooking and heating.

This year’s State of Global Air Report highlighted the deadly impacts of long-term exposure to ground-level ozone, which was linked to around 489,518 global deaths in 2021. In the U.S., ground-level ozone exposure contributed to around 14,000 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), more than the ozone-related COPD deaths in other high-income countries.

For the first time in the report’s history, the 2024 version includes data on nitrogen dioxide exposure. As HEI explained, nitrogen dioxide is a common pollutant from vehicle exhaust. It can also be emitted by fossil fuel and industrial plants. Nitrogen dioxide can contribute to asthma and other respiratory conditions, the report noted, and can also contribute to worsening ozone and fine particulate pollution.

Despite these findings, the report highlighted some good news, including that the disease burden from air pollution exposure in children has declined by around 35% from 2010 to 2021 as household air pollution has declined. Further, the air pollution-related death rate in children under 5 years has declined 53% since 2000, in part thanks to clean energy developments.

But more actions are needed to reduce air pollution and improve health outcomes for people around the world.

“This new report offers a stark reminder of the significant impacts air pollution has on human health, with far too much of the burden borne by young children, older populations, and low- and middle-income countries,” Dr. Pallavi Pant, HEI’s Head of Global Health at HEI, said in a statement. “This points sharply at an opportunity for cities and countries to consider air quality and air pollution as high-risk factors when developing health policies and other noncommunicable disease prevention and control programs.” 

The post Air Pollution Linked to 2,000 Child Deaths per Day Globally appeared first on EcoWatch.

Elizabeth Mitchell received a notice from her commercial property insurance company in April that set off alarm bells. 

Acadia Insurance, the insurer for the market, workspace, and wellness-center nonprofit she runs in West Cornwall, Connecticut, would no longer cover “bodily injury, property damage, or personal and advertising injury” from “contact with, exposure to, existence of, or presence of any ‘PFAS.’”

PFAS, as Mitchell soon discovered, is short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which appear in everything from clothing to cleaning products to cookware and are linked to a wide range of health risks. Since most of these toxic substances don’t break down and are now found in the blood of people all over the world, they’ve earned the nickname “forever chemicals.” 

An increasing number of Connecticut towns have found forever chemicals in their water supplies, and for decades, the river that runs through Mitchell’s community has been contaminated by hazardous waste, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements. Now, if forever chemicals were found in the local water supply and someone sued Mitchell’s nonprofit for exposure, the operation would be at risk of bankruptcy. 

“Places like us, you can’t get sued,” said Mitchell. “We definitely could not sustain a lawsuit.”

Mitchell, who is my mother, is one of thousands of business owners who could be getting notices that their insurers will no longer cover PFAS risks. 

As concerns about the dangers of forever chemicals rise nationwide and lawyers warn of a deluge of “astronomical” lawsuits, commercial insurers are quietly eliminating liability coverage for these chemicals’ health and ecological consequences. Such coverage exclusions can leave small businesses on the line for costly litigation and victims without recourse for their medical costs from life-threatening PFAS exposure.

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This trend “is definitely well underway,” said John Ellison, an attorney who works on behalf of insurance policyholders at the global law firm Reed Smith. “Certainly large portions of the insurance industry have decided that they’re not interested in selling liability insurance coverage for PFAS.”   

Acadia Insurance declined to comment.

Companies are so worried about the cost of future PFAS litigation that they have labeled these chemicals the “new asbestos,” in reference to the once-ubiquitous building product whose links to cancer have led insurers to pay out nearly $100 billion in claims and sent dozens of firms into bankruptcy. 

According to The New York Times, a defense lawyer recently warned at an industry conference that PFAS lawsuits could “dwarf anything related to asbestos” and that plastic-industry executives should “do what you can, while you can” to prepare for the onslaught of lawsuits “before you get sued.”

The elimination of PFAS insurance coverage is happening amid a nationwide crackdown on the chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency just designated two widely used forever chemicals as “hazardous substances” and set the first-ever limits on these chemicals in drinking water. At least six states including Colorado, Kentucky, and Maine have enacted bills related to PFAS regulation this year. 

Yet insurers’ fears about not being able to afford PFAS lawsuits may be misplaced, said Joanne Doroshow, executive director of New York Law School’s Center for Justice & Democracy. The industry had stored away more than one trillion dollars in surplus profits by the end of 2021 — an all-time high. 

“We have insurance in order to protect us and we pay a lot of premiums to these companies with the expectation that when there is a claim they’ll pay it — and they don’t want to pay it,” Doroshow said. 

Dumping risk

First discovered in the late 1930s, forever chemicals have been commonly used across a wide range of consumer products since the mid-20th century. Not long after, major PFAS manufacturers like 3M and DuPont began conducting animal studies that uncovered disturbing findings, such as that a low daily dose of these chemicals could kill a monkey within weeks.  

Yet the multinational conglomerates followed in the footsteps of Big Tobacco and hid the dangers of PFAS from the general public for more than 40 years. This included suppressing their own research and spending large sums to quietly settle lawsuits and fight federal regulations. A 2015 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that PFAS can be found in the blood of 97 percent of Americans. 

In 1999, a West Virginian farmer filed a lawsuit against DuPont for contaminating his water with forever chemicals that allegedly killed his cattle. Since then, law firms have filed 9,800 suits alleging that forever-chemical exposure has led to cancer, heart damage, and other harms, resulting in almost $17 billion in settlements across 140 industries, according to a 2023 report by the Seattle-based consulting firm Milliman.

This March, a court approved a multibillion-dollar settlement from the multinational conglomerate 3M after the manufacturer was accused of contaminating public drinking water systems nationwide with forever chemicals that it had long been producing.

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Now, insurers are working to limit their risk by dropping their PFAS coverage.

“Insurers, mindful of the high cost of defending and indemnifying their insured businesses’ PFAS risks, have begun modifying or reinterpreting business insurance policy provisions to mitigate their own coverage burden,” wrote attorneys from Minnesota-based Nilan Johnson Lewis, a law firm that represents businesses across a wide range of industries, in an online report. 

Last year, the Insurance Services Office, a property and casualty insurance advisory organization that develops and publishes policy language for insurers, endorsed the exclusion of PFAS coverage. The organization’s endorsement provided language for insurers to “broadly exclude bodily injury, property damage and personal and advertising injury related exposures associated with PFAS” from business owners’ general liability insurance policies.

“Every sophisticated insurance company worth their salt would have [PFAS] on their radar as a potential concern,” said Chip Merlin, founder of Merlin Law Group, a litigation firm that advocates for the rights of policyholders. “They learned these lessons through things like asbestos.”

Over the years, hundreds of thousands of people across the United States have filed compensation claims for asbestos-related injuries, with the average settlement ranging from $1 to $2 million. In 2019, insurers saw $92 billion in losses from asbestos liabilities. 

Erik Olson, a senior strategic director at the environmental advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council, said PFAS lawsuits are more likely to target big businesses like DuPont or 3M, rather than neighborhood nonprofits.

So far, “the folks getting sued are those that have deep pockets, where [victims] can get substantial payouts,” said Olson. 

But this does not mean small businesses are immune from future claims, said Ellison, the Reed Smith attorney. Ellison has represented larger businesses experiencing PFAS-related lawsuits, but suspects smaller businesses will experience similar litigation down the line. 

“Any small business that is in the stream of commerce that PFAS is a part of, they are all subject to being sued,” he said. “Those companies have a big fight on their hands about whether they have insurance to defend those claims. It’s naive to say they’re not at risk.” 

Labeling PFAS a pollutant

Along with stripping PFAS coverage from their plans moving forward, insurance companies are using long-standing pollution exclusions to avoid PFAS lawsuit payouts in other instances where business insurance policies did not explicitly bar PFAS liability coverage. 

Pollution exclusions emerged in the early 1970s as a way for insurers to avoid big payouts following the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and demands for companies to curtail and clean up pollution activities. Such exclusions have since become common in business insurance policies.

Now these exclusions are paying legal dividends for insurers aiming to avoid PFAS liabilities. 

In 2022, a U.S. district court judge ruled that an insurer’s “total pollution exclusion” meant it did not have to cover a Dalton, Georgia, recycling facility after town residents alleged they were injured by PFAS chemicals the plant discharged into local waterways. 

In a New York case that same year, an appellate court judge likewise ruled that insurers’ pollution exclusions meant they didn’t have to cover the maker of nonstick, heat-resistant materials in lawsuits claiming the manufacturer polluted groundwater with PFAS chemicals. The firm that represented the insurers called the ruling a “significant win for the insurance industry” and their client, who “was facing potentially enormous” expenses.  

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Some of these pollution exclusions also bar coverage for the testing and removal of pollutants from the environment, which could potentially be used to avoid payouts for PFAS cleanup efforts. Removing PFAS from the environment is incredibly costly: One study in Minnesota found that removing forever chemicals from wastewater streams in the state would cost between $14 and $28 billion over 20 years. The American Water Works Association estimates PFAS cleanup in drinking water nationally would amount to between $3.2 and $5.7 billion annually. 

With this in mind, avoiding PFAS lawsuit payouts is par for the course for insurers, said Doroshow. “It’s about dumping risk,” she said. “That seems to be the business model of insurance companies.” 

Yet Doroshow questions if PFAS pose a dire risk to insurers’ profits.

In the decade leading up to 2020, industry data showed that total commercial insurance payouts “had not spiked and generally tracked the rate of inflation and growth of population,” according to research by Doroshow and her colleagues. Meanwhile, insurers like Travelers — a major player in property and casualty insurance — hit their largest-ever profits this January, while premiums for policyholders soared. 

Regardless, noted Doroshow and her collaborators, industry leaders “publicly spin the notion that the industry is financially beleaguered and cannot pay claims without significantly raising rates.” 

While collusion to raise prices is illegal in many businesses, certain activities by insurers are exempt from federal antitrust laws, allowing them to share information about past losses and make future coverage and premium decisions accordingly. 

“It’s really a function of a completely unregulated industry,” said Dorowshow. “They don’t have any federal regulation.” 

The state of affairs is concerning for small business managers like Mitchell, who are now getting PFAS exclusion notices from their insurers. 

“I’m the steward of this nonprofit and then the insurer sends me this letter, so what am I really covered for?” said Mitchell. “I like to believe that nobody would ever come in and sue, but I never know.”

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Forever chemicals are poisoning your insurance on Jun 19, 2024.

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Within weeks, the nation will deploy 9,000 people to begin restoring landscapes, erecting solar panels, and taking other steps to help guide the country toward a cleaner, greener future.

The first of those workers were inducted into the American Climate Corps on Tuesday during a virtual event from the White House. Their swearing-in marks another step forward for the Biden administration’s ambitious climate agenda. The program, which President Joe Biden announced within days of taking office in 2021, is a modern version of the Climate Conservation Corps, the New Deal-era project that put 3 million men to work planting trees and building national parks.

During the ceremony, the inaugural members of the corps promised to work “on behalf of our nation and planet, its people, and all its species, for the better future we hold within our sight.” 

The American Climate Corps was among the first things Biden announced as president, but it took a while to secure funding and get started. More than 20,000 young people are expected to join during the program’s first year, according to the White House, with new openings appearing on the American Climate Corps job site in the months ahead. The pay varies depending on the location and experience required, with open positions ranging from around $11 to $28 an hour.

The administration is promoting the corps as a way for young people to jump-start green careers. In April, the White House announced a partnership with TradesFutures, a nonprofit construction company, a sign that the program might help fill the country’s shortage of skilled workers who can help electrify everything. The White House will also place members in so-called “energy communities” like former coal-mining towns to help with environmental remediation and other projects.

“Whether it’s managing forests in the Pacific Northwest, deploying clean energy across the Southwest, or promoting sustainable farming practices throughout the heartland, the president’s American Climate Corps is providing thousands of young Americans with the skills and experience to advance a more sustainable, just tomorrow,” White House climate advisor Ali Zaidi said in a press release on Tuesday.

The launch of the American Climate Corps might appeal to the young voters who were crucial to Biden’s victory in the 2020 election over President Donald Trump and many of whom, according to polls, aren’t sure they’ll vote for him again. This same demographic supports climate action, surveys show, with more than three-quarters of younger Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, saying they want the United States to take steps to address climate change.

The pledge the corps members swore to on Tuesday was written by Barbara Kingsolver, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author who famously explored the consequences of climate change in her 2012 novel Flight Behavior. Kingsolver told Grist that the climate corps is “one of the most exciting things that’s happening in the country right now.” She has seen rising concern among younger generations inheriting a warmer world. “I’ve always thought that worry can be a paralyzer or an engine that puts you to work, and that you’ll go farther and feel better if you put your worry to work,” she said.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The American Climate Corps officially kicks off on Jun 18, 2024.

An extended heat wave has descended upon the United States, causing extreme heat alerts and record temperatures for tens of millions. Cities like Chicago have already broken records as daytime temperatures reached into the 90s from the Midwest to Maine.

On Tuesday, Governor of New York Kathy Hochul called on the National Guard to help with emergencies that may arise due to the heat, which is expected to last through at least Friday, reported The Associated Press.

“This is a time of significant risk, and we’re doing our best to make sure that all lives are protected,” said Hochul during a briefing, as The Associated Press reported.

Monday saw a Chicago temperature record from 1957 smashed when the city reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit. Hot and humid conditions this week will bring heat indices close to 100 in the country’s third-largest city, according to a post by the National Weather Service Chicago on X.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of extreme temperatures in northern New England as well.

“In stark contrast to the cool, windy, rainy and even snowy weather in the West, a heat wave will settle and persist across the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and the Northeast through the next few days.  Forecast highs today and Wednesday will reach into the mid- to upper 90s, even the century mark

Wednesday and Thursday afternoon at the hottest locations in interior northern New England.  Widespread, numerous record-tying/breaking high temperatures are possible,” the NWS website said.

The sweltering conditions are partially the result of a “heat dome,” which traps air that gets hotter with each day of sunshine. Nighttime temperatures often stay too warm to offer much of a reprieve, and the combination is a recipe for increased risk of heat-related illness.

“Warm overnight temperatures only dropping into the mid-70s will offer little to no relief, especially to those without adequate or reliable cooling,” said the Weather Prediction Center, as CNN reported.

Chicago’s scorching temperatures didn’t keep visitors to Grant Park from wanting hot food on a hot day, reported CBS News.

“They be ordering the hottest stuff on the hottest day,” said Emmanuel Ramos, cooking in a food truck next to the park. “They order ramen, corn — they just want everything hot. I don’t know why. Right now, something that would be good is the smoothies. I think those are refreshing.”

In 2023, the U.S. had the most heat waves since 1936, The Associated Press reported. A heat wave is a period of unusually hot weather that lasts three days or more.

Officials in the Midwest and Northeast are encouraging people to limit their outdoor activities whenever possible and check on others, such as neighbors and family members, who could be especially vulnerable to the high temperatures. Cooling centers have been opened in some places.

“The early arrival of this magnitude of heat, the duration, abundant sunshine, and lack of relief overnight will increase the danger of this heatwave beyond what the exact temperature values would suggest. This is especially true for those without adequate air conditioning, which becomes more of a concern for locations further north that are not as accustomed to periods of persistent heat,” the Weather Prediction Center said.

The post Heat Wave Hits Midwest and Northeast With Scorching Record Temperatures appeared first on EcoWatch.

Every time you eat a blueberry, the microbiome in your gut gets to work. Bacterial enzymes attack the organic compounds of the fruit: a burbling, gurgling digestive process that can, often to our embarrassment, cause us to pass gas. That may not be such a big deal for a human, but new research shows that the microbial action in icy Arctic soils might not be so different. On a global scale, it could mean the planet belching up more dangerous greenhouse gases.

Permafrost, the frozen earth that covers roughly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere, traps an enormous amount of planet-heating carbon — 2.5 times the amount currently in the atmosphere. But as the ground thaws, the microbial community in the soil wakes up and begins to eat away at the trapped organic material, releasing all that buried carbon into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases, which, in turn, trap even more heat around the planet. In a self-perpetuating feedback loop, the warmer it gets, the more active soil microbes become. And new research suggests that scientists might have not realized just how much of that carbon-sinking permafrost is at risk: Twice the estimated amount of carbon could be on offer for hungry microbes to decompose, which could lead to increased emissions. 

“We were surprised that some of the exact pathways that exist in the human gut were shared by totally different organisms,” said Kelly Wrighton, a microbiology professor at Colorado State University who leads the lab behind the study, which was published last month in the journal Nature Microbiology. While she said this could mean a lot more future permafrost emissions than climate models previously accounted for, more research is needed to determine exactly how much. 

There’s so much left to figure out, in fact, that many climate models fail to account for the thawing permafrost at all. Recent advancements in technology, like tracking methane with satellites, are helping us get a better idea of what’s already seeping out of the soil and how the thawing landscape is changing. But what about the teeny organic forces churning up all that carbon in the first place? 

While half of all of Earth’s carbon is stored in permafrost, not all of it is available for microbes to chow down and burp up as carbon dioxide and methane. Based on a decades-old theory, soil scientists used to think that polyphenols — a class of more than 8,000 organic compounds found abundantly in many plants — weren’t consumable by microbes in permafrost conditions, which would prevent some carbon from escaping when the ground thaws.

This assumption has even led some researchers to propose that limiting permafrost emissions could be possible by seeding the soil with polyphenol-rich matter. But polyphenols are also plentiful in berries, nuts, and many other types of food that humans eat, and according to human-health research, the microbes in our stomachs handle them just fine. 

Bridget McGivern, a microbiologist at Colorado State University and lead author of the study, says it was a contradiction between different scientific fields that left researchers puzzled. “How could these two things be true in these different ecosystems? We know that, most of the time, microorganisms follow the same rules across systems.”

Recent advancements have finally allowed scientists to begin peering into the complex, diverse world of soil genetics and answer these questions. McGivern and her colleagues started by creating an open-source gene-labeling tool, which can compare genetic sequences that microbes express when they munch on polyphenols in different environments, including human digestive systems. Then, the researchers used it to look closely at permafrost soil and found genetic evidence that microbes were decomposing the polyphenols there, too.

Before the study was published, McGivern says about 25 percent of all carbon trapped in the permafrost was thought to be available for microbes and factored into climate models. Now that polyphenols are on the microbial menu, that number has doubled — meaning twice as much carbon could be accessible for the microbes to decompose and convert into greenhouse gases. 

There are still many gaps to fill, and estimating the permafrost’s future emissions requires more research from different fields. “But what we can say is that there is this huge carbon pool that we were ignoring that we really should pay attention to,” McGivern said. 

Tyler Jones, a climate researcher at the University of Colorado, Boulder, agrees. “We’re a bit behind,” he said. Decades ago, researchers thought that permafrost may stay frozen and not pose an immediate climate threat. Fast forward to today, he said, and a rapidly changing Arctic has been found to be warming two to three times faster than the rest of the planet, sparking a flood of urgent research. “There’s so many missing puzzle pieces right now. We can’t even see what the full puzzle looks like.” 

Other natural processes complicate the picture even further. In a process called shrubification, plant life is creeping farther north, colonizing the earth that receding ice reveals. Jones says all that extra plant life would suck up carbon, helping turn the Arctic back into a carbon sink. But research shows shrubs may trap snow before it can begin chilling the earth. McGivern points out it may also mean more polyphenol-laden soil for the microbes to break down.

“The impacts are unfolding already,” said Jan Nitzbon, a permafrost researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute. The ice is already reacting to each fractional degree of warming — thawing gradually in some areas and collapsing in bursts in others, threatening the ecosystem and people who live within it alike.

“Mitigating carbon emissions, keeping global warming temperatures as low as possible — that’s kind of the only viable way to protect as much permafrost as possible,” Nitzbon said

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline What your gut has in common with Arctic permafrost, and why it’s a troubling sign for climate change on Jun 18, 2024.