Scientists
 at Edinburgh University in Scotland have observed a 31% increase in 
methane emitted by high latitude permafrost, or Arctic tundra, in just 
the past five years. They also note that global warming in the Arctic is
 occurring at twice the rate as anywhere else on Earth, with some 
regions having already warmed by 2.5 degrees Celsius. 
Dr. 
Phillippe Ciais with the Laboratory for Climate Sciences and the 
Environment in France reported in 2009 that vast stores of methane could
 be released with just a 2 degree Celsius average global rise. As Arctic
 soils store billions of tons of the gas, which has far more warming 
potential than carbon dioxide, the thawing of this region could create 
what has been called a “ticking timebomb” that would overwhelm any human
 efforts to halt it. 
Dr. Ciais and University of Edinburgh 
researchers, we appreciate your observations and their resounding call 
to action. Let us step urgently while we still have time toward 
sustainable solutions that preserve our planet. 
Supreme Master 
Ching Hai has often emphasized the critical danger of triggering such a 
methane release, as well as what we can do to halt it, as during 
September 2009 videoconference in South Korea.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: I would say 
that the most serious one is the frightening prospect of runaway global 
warming, described by scientists as the conditions that will trigger 
out-of-control climate change effects.
This runaway warming of the 
climate could easily be caused by melting permafrost, which is the 
frozen soil extending across the vast expanse of the Arctic tundra. 
As
 the permafrost melts, it releases methane stored underground. Since 
2007, scientists have seen more and more evidence of methane from 
permafrost melt, with recent discoveries of pure methane gas bubbling up
 from 
the bottom of the Arctic lakes in both northern Canada and 
Russia. 
The more people who eliminate meat and, indeed, all 
animal products from their lives, the more we have a chance to save the 
planet and not only that, to actually restore our earthly home to her 
original grace and beauty and even more so, more than what we have 
known, more beautiful, more abundant, more peace, more gladness than 
what we have known up to now. 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/14/arctic-permafrost-methane
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8459770.stmhttp://www.news.com.au/arctic-greenhouse-gas-emissions-jump-30pc/story-e6frflrr-1225820280873