We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems
Climate change is an existential threat to the vast global permafrost domain. The diverse human cultures, ecological communities, and biogeochemical cycles of this tenth of the planet depend on the persistence of frozen conditions. The complexity, immensity, and remoteness of permafrost ecosystems m...
Published in: | Frontiers in Environmental Science |
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2022
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428 2024-03-31T07:54:53+00:00 We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems Abbott, Benjamin W. Brown, Michael Carey, Joanna C. Ernakovich, Jessica Frederick, Jennifer M. Guo, Laodong Hugelius, Gustaf Lee, Raymond M. Loranty, Michael M. Macdonald, Robie Mann, Paul J. Natali, Susan M. Olefeldt, David Pearson, Pam Rec, Abigail Robards, Martin Salmon, Verity G. Sayedi, Sayedeh Sara Schädel, Christina Schuur, Edward A. G. Shakil, Sarah Shogren, Arial J. Strauss, Jens Tank, Suzanne E. Thornton, Brett F. Treharne, Rachael Turetsky, Merritt Voigt, Carolina Wright, Nancy Yang, Yuanhe Zarnetske, Jay P. Zhang, Qiwen Zolkos, Scott 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Environmental Science volume 10 ISSN 2296-665X General Environmental Science journal-article 2022 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428 2024-03-05T00:13:52Z Climate change is an existential threat to the vast global permafrost domain. The diverse human cultures, ecological communities, and biogeochemical cycles of this tenth of the planet depend on the persistence of frozen conditions. The complexity, immensity, and remoteness of permafrost ecosystems make it difficult to grasp how quickly things are changing and what can be done about it. Here, we summarize terrestrial and marine changes in the permafrost domain with an eye toward global policy. While many questions remain, we know that continued fossil fuel burning is incompatible with the continued existence of the permafrost domain as we know it. If we fail to protect permafrost ecosystems, the consequences for human rights, biosphere integrity, and global climate will be severe. The policy implications are clear: the faster we reduce human emissions and draw down atmospheric CO 2 , the more of the permafrost domain we can save. Emissions reduction targets must be strengthened and accompanied by support for local peoples to protect intact ecological communities and natural carbon sinks within the permafrost domain. Some proposed geoengineering interventions such as solar shading, surface albedo modification, and vegetation manipulations are unproven and may exacerbate environmental injustice without providing lasting protection. Conversely, astounding advances in renewable energy have reopened viable pathways to halve human greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and effectively stop them well before 2050. We call on leaders, corporations, researchers, and citizens everywhere to acknowledge the global importance of the permafrost domain and work towards climate restoration and empowerment of Indigenous and immigrant communities in these regions. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Environmental Science 10 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Frontiers (Publisher) |
op_collection_id |
crfrontiers |
language |
unknown |
topic |
General Environmental Science |
spellingShingle |
General Environmental Science Abbott, Benjamin W. Brown, Michael Carey, Joanna C. Ernakovich, Jessica Frederick, Jennifer M. Guo, Laodong Hugelius, Gustaf Lee, Raymond M. Loranty, Michael M. Macdonald, Robie Mann, Paul J. Natali, Susan M. Olefeldt, David Pearson, Pam Rec, Abigail Robards, Martin Salmon, Verity G. Sayedi, Sayedeh Sara Schädel, Christina Schuur, Edward A. G. Shakil, Sarah Shogren, Arial J. Strauss, Jens Tank, Suzanne E. Thornton, Brett F. Treharne, Rachael Turetsky, Merritt Voigt, Carolina Wright, Nancy Yang, Yuanhe Zarnetske, Jay P. Zhang, Qiwen Zolkos, Scott We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems |
topic_facet |
General Environmental Science |
description |
Climate change is an existential threat to the vast global permafrost domain. The diverse human cultures, ecological communities, and biogeochemical cycles of this tenth of the planet depend on the persistence of frozen conditions. The complexity, immensity, and remoteness of permafrost ecosystems make it difficult to grasp how quickly things are changing and what can be done about it. Here, we summarize terrestrial and marine changes in the permafrost domain with an eye toward global policy. While many questions remain, we know that continued fossil fuel burning is incompatible with the continued existence of the permafrost domain as we know it. If we fail to protect permafrost ecosystems, the consequences for human rights, biosphere integrity, and global climate will be severe. The policy implications are clear: the faster we reduce human emissions and draw down atmospheric CO 2 , the more of the permafrost domain we can save. Emissions reduction targets must be strengthened and accompanied by support for local peoples to protect intact ecological communities and natural carbon sinks within the permafrost domain. Some proposed geoengineering interventions such as solar shading, surface albedo modification, and vegetation manipulations are unproven and may exacerbate environmental injustice without providing lasting protection. Conversely, astounding advances in renewable energy have reopened viable pathways to halve human greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and effectively stop them well before 2050. We call on leaders, corporations, researchers, and citizens everywhere to acknowledge the global importance of the permafrost domain and work towards climate restoration and empowerment of Indigenous and immigrant communities in these regions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Abbott, Benjamin W. Brown, Michael Carey, Joanna C. Ernakovich, Jessica Frederick, Jennifer M. Guo, Laodong Hugelius, Gustaf Lee, Raymond M. Loranty, Michael M. Macdonald, Robie Mann, Paul J. Natali, Susan M. Olefeldt, David Pearson, Pam Rec, Abigail Robards, Martin Salmon, Verity G. Sayedi, Sayedeh Sara Schädel, Christina Schuur, Edward A. G. Shakil, Sarah Shogren, Arial J. Strauss, Jens Tank, Suzanne E. Thornton, Brett F. Treharne, Rachael Turetsky, Merritt Voigt, Carolina Wright, Nancy Yang, Yuanhe Zarnetske, Jay P. Zhang, Qiwen Zolkos, Scott |
author_facet |
Abbott, Benjamin W. Brown, Michael Carey, Joanna C. Ernakovich, Jessica Frederick, Jennifer M. Guo, Laodong Hugelius, Gustaf Lee, Raymond M. Loranty, Michael M. Macdonald, Robie Mann, Paul J. Natali, Susan M. Olefeldt, David Pearson, Pam Rec, Abigail Robards, Martin Salmon, Verity G. Sayedi, Sayedeh Sara Schädel, Christina Schuur, Edward A. G. Shakil, Sarah Shogren, Arial J. Strauss, Jens Tank, Suzanne E. Thornton, Brett F. Treharne, Rachael Turetsky, Merritt Voigt, Carolina Wright, Nancy Yang, Yuanhe Zarnetske, Jay P. Zhang, Qiwen Zolkos, Scott |
author_sort |
Abbott, Benjamin W. |
title |
We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems |
title_short |
We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems |
title_full |
We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems |
title_fullStr |
We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
We Must Stop Fossil Fuel Emissions to Protect Permafrost Ecosystems |
title_sort |
we must stop fossil fuel emissions to protect permafrost ecosystems |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428/full |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
Frontiers in Environmental Science volume 10 ISSN 2296-665X |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.889428 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Environmental Science |
container_volume |
10 |
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1795036166923223040 |