"Smoke Signals" by Alisa Opar

Although the media's attention has been focused on the oil spill in the Gulf, a recent article in Audubon call back our attention the problem that isn't going to go away: the effects of global warming.

"Smoke Signals" relates what's has been going on in the Arctic for too damn long. The tundra is no longer staying frozen, thereby releasing carbon and methane, and thermokarsts are happening at an increasing rate.

As Opar informs, "The Arctic's soil and permafrost hold nearly twice as much carbon as the earth's atmosphere, dwarfing the amount of carbon emitted to date by fossil fuels. Since the industrial revolution our dependence on coal and oil has ratcheted up the atmosphere's carbon content, from 560 to 760 gigatons. Permafrost holds an estimated 1,400 gigatons of carbon. In addition to carbon dioxide, the frozen source is releasing methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent, though it stays in the atmosphere for only a decade rather than for millennia."

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