In
 two concurring studies, researchers from Canada’s Université Laval and 
Sweden’s Lund University have found that the permanently frozen ground 
known as permafrost is melting at southern latitudes. 
In the 
case of Canada’s James Bay region, the permafrost layer now begins 130 
kilometers north of where it had been 50 years ago. In Sweden, 
scientists found over a several-year period that the permafrost in one 
peat mire region completely disappeared. The Canadian researchers also 
noted a temperature rise of some 2 degrees Celsius over the last two 
decades, saying that if this continues, permafrost in the James Bay 
region will vanish. 
Not only is the melting of permafrost a sign
 of acute global warming, scientists have warned previously that its 
effects include the collapse of entire communities, which has already 
been seen in Arctic locations like Alaska, USA. 
Worse yet are 
the vast underground stores of methane that are released as the 
permafrost melts, with tipping points beyond which runaway global 
warming is inevitable. 
We thank you for your careful 
observations, Canadian and Swedish scientists, despite our alarm at what
 they foretell. May everyone turn to harmonious lifestyles that sustain 
our environment while there is still time.
As in a September 2009
 videoconference held in Peru, Supreme Master Ching Hai has frequently 
spoken of such warning signs as permafrost melt, along with the way we 
can all act to halt it.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
 US and Canadian scientists traveling to the Arctic have noted increased
 methane gas being released from the Earth’s melting permafrost, which 
is storing immense amounts of methane beneath the frozen surface. Other 
research has also highlighted how quickly the temperature is rising in 
the Arctic, much faster than in the rest of the world.
This means
 a vast quantity of methane could be released from the previously frozen
 soil very quickly, which would be a complete disaster for life on 
Earth.
One fact is clear: if we stop meat consumption and 
livestock raising, we will also eliminate one of the most heat-trapping 
gases, which is methane. 
And since this gas disappears more quickly from the atmosphere, the planet will cool almost immediately. 
This
 will also address problems like the melting permafrost, which will 
otherwise emit more methane if nothing is done to halt it.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100217101129.htmhttp://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE61G5BG20100217?sp=true http://www5.fsa.ulaval.ca/http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090218081629.htm