Melting permafrost leading to poisoned streams
One of the hats I wore while working was that of an ecotoxicologist. In that role I studied acid mine tailings that leached toxins into streams killing fish and poisoning ecosystems. Earlier this week, the Wrangell Sentinel published this article “Thawing permafrost causes acid-rock drainage, turns Arctic river red” that describes the same sort of contamination except not from a mine, but from thawing permafrost due to global warming. The news piece cites information from this September article from PNAS.
If there is any consolation in contamination coming from a leaky mine it’s that a single point source can be stopped, remediated, and restored. The scary thing about this contamination coming from melting permafrost, is the scope is widespread and the challenges for remediation are overwhelming.
If you’re a subscriber to National Geographic you may want to check out this article about this situation for more details and to see their graphics.
What can we do? Please talk with people you know, write to your elected representatives, and pen letters to the editor and/or guest editorials. Explain that this is an eco-systemic problem that demands global action to stop global warming from all causes, but especially from excess emissions from burning fossil fuels.
As always, please let me know your thoughts on this or other weekly articles of special interest.
Cheers, Bill
