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