Melting Composts Heaps And The Permafrost Precautionary Principle

In a recent blog post by Christian Hunt, on climatesafety.org, the effects of the melting of permafrost were discussed and the precautionary principle was suggested as being a critical part of the solution.
The permafrost located in the Arctic is under increasing threat of melting due to global warming. Huge amounts of dead organisms and waste such as dead vegetation are contained in the permafrost. The permafrost therefore plays the role of a huge composting bin, a compost which covers almost one fifth of the earth’s surface. Since the permafrost is threatened by global warming, there is a chance huge amounts of carbon dioxide and methane gas could be released into the atmosphere. The blog suggests that information on large scale emissions, is hard to obtain but that unless steps are taken to ebb the warming of permafrost, there will be large amounts of harmful emissions created from the melting of permafrost.
In his blog Hunt uses facts on a small scale to provide reasons for considering permafrost as a potential component for global warming. Hunt states that while it is unknown how much carbon dioxide and methane gas will be released or how fast the emissions will increase, the affect of permafrost melting will be added to the IPCC’s scenarios and has, undoubtedly, a huge potential for harm. Hunt says that using the precautionary principle means we cannot ignore the permafrost any longer since ignorance could have catastrophic results.
Hunt’s use of the precautionary principle seems to me to be extremely valid. While there is no large scale testing done on the permafrost, the results from point by point measurements seem to suggest an overall increase in the amount of permafrost melting. If this is the case then certainly the precautionary principle demands that we take action to try and prevent anymore melting. While we don’t have huge amounts of information, the information provided “suggests a bit of a doomsday scenario” which demands, using the precautionary principle, that we act immediately.

References

Hunt, C. (October, 11th, 2009) "Melting compost heaps and the permafrost precautionary principle." climatesafety.org. Retrieved from http://climatesafety.org/melting-compost-heaps-and-the-permafrost-precautionary-principle/ (19 October 2009).