Permafrost – an ultimatum- fostering the clean energy transition!
The brouhaha surrounding melting glaciers has been in the headlines since a decade or more.In time people’s approach towards preserving the environment has strengthened! Forinstance, as seen from the steady pick up in commercialization of e-vehicles across the world,changing consumer spending habits (purchasing products that are sustainable, the in vogue‘pre-loved fashion’), government initiatives that galvanize a spur in adoption of renewableenergy (the recent proposition of hydrogen as a renewable source) to electrify majority ofcities and the list is endless. However, individuals failed to envisage what implications does the melting pose on thevarious communities that inhabit countries that are built on ice! Think: Alaska, Siberia,Scandinavia, Russia, Artic, Canada and Greenland! This ice is called permafrost and its thawing has sparked alarm about its consequences onhuman life and subsequently the ecosystem. So, what is permafrost? Permafrost has formed over millions of years below the Earth’s surface creating widespreadchunks of land. Permafrost constitutes an amalgamation of rocks, soil and sand; ice beingtheir binding agent. In addition, it is created by water ensnared in the cracks of rocks or insoil and sediment that is frozen over a period of 2 years to hundreds, thousands and millionsof years, creating numerous layers down to the surface of the earth. Permafrost’s presence is ubiquitous across the globe, covering majority of the northernhemisphere such Artic, Siberia, Russia, Canada, Greenland, Alaska, Scandinavia, TibetanPlateau, Arctic Ocean (undersea permafrost) South American Andes and New Zealand. A plethora of indigenous communities have been constructed on permafrost ground. Man-made industrial activities over centuries have been responsible for triggering a glut ofgreenhouse gases emissions in the atmosphere thus resulting in and activating climate changeand global warming across the world. Today communities inhabiting these affected regionsare forced to relocate due the disruption caused to the landscapes by landslides and flooding. Entire infrastructure of towns are under threat for instance melting of permafrost down todeeper levels can rupture sewage pipes and disrupt the functioning of power poles andpowerlines. Furthermore roads, pipelines, fuel storage areas, transportation routes etc arejeopardized as permafrost melts. One can come to a realization that it is not only the islandslike Indonesia and their communities that are sinking due to rising sea levels, but a wholehost of communities residing in the northern hemisphere are too forced to relocate due to theconsequences of climate change. Alarmingly permafrost is believed to store 1500 billion tons of carbon that is double of whatis present in the atmosphere today. According to scientists the emissions caused from thethawing of the permafrost can be equivalent to emissions created by a mid-size country!!Hence permafrost presents itself as a carbon pool. How is this plausible? Well, the plant andanimal remains that failed to undergo the process of decomposition, became embedded in iceovertime. Therefore, as the permafrost melts (fostered by rising temperatures, climate changeand global warming) microbes will now decompose the remains releasing carbon dioxide andmethane aggravating global warming around the world. So, what can we do about this? It is imperative to reduce the emission of fossil fuels from man made activities as this issomething that is in the hands and control of businesses, governments and individual citizens.For now, perhaps there is no solution to restore permafrost or curb its melting but widespreadadoption of cleaner sources of energy for multitude applications (manufacturing, electricity)can delay the melting of permafrost. Permafrost is a refuge for millions of old and new viruses and bacteria, stored over thousandsof years. As the thawing process exacerbates over time, this can jeopardize human life andentire ecosystems as they come into contact with these viruses. These viruses can flow intowater bodies, contaminate land and agricultural produce, infect wildlife and ultimatelyhumans. However, every adversity comes with an opportunity and hence the escape of theseviruses can accelerate prolific research and innovation in the pharma space to identifyremedies for treating potential epidemic and pandemics. The Artic (and Northern Hemisphere under ice) is bejeweled with precious and rare metalsthat are present in copious amounts under the permafrost and Artic Sea. For instance,Greenland is rich in rare earth metals, gold, copper, nickel, cobalt and zinc. All theseresources will bolster our path towards clean energy transition as they are the raw materialsfor batteries for e-vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines and so on. These regions also presentnew possibilities for oil and fossil fuel extraction. The north of the artic circle is supposed tobe a powerhouse of 30% of undiscovered gas and 13% undiscovered oil and containsprecious metals of worth $1 trillion. Not good news for the environmental communities butprobably good news for the business community (in terms of potential business opportunitiesthat can be exploited) The thawing of permafrost will burgeon the expansion of shipping lanes and reduce durationof travel between Europe and Asia for logistical and transportation-based activities. Theseroutes are believed to be the shortest compared to the Suez Canal and Panama Canal hencedecreasing transportation time by 14-20 days, resulting in 24% less emission of greenhousegasses caused by shipping activities. Desolate areas of the artic far from the reach of human life were treated as spots for disposalof radioactive waste from activities such as nuclear testing or nuclear reactors as well asvarious chemicals and biohazards. Thus, suggestive of that fact that these harmful wasteshave been embossed in the permafrost overtime. Furthermore, wastes generated from heavymetal mining in the Artic too would be entrapped in the permafrost. In addition toxicmaterials present in landslides structured upon dry permafrost are now trickling down theirway into rivers and lakes. Hence causing several hazardous consequences as the permafrostthaws and comes into human contact over time. This calls for investigation of immediatesolutions to corroborate how these areas can be managed. As the permafrost melts it will bring with it opportunities for sustaining access to agriculturalproduce for example Siberia can become a potential wheat producer to the world and Canadaa wine producer. In Greenland the sand and sediments collected from the melting of glacierscan be transformed into raw materials for creating concrete, glass or computers. Worldpowers are gearing up for claiming their part of the land in the Artic as it will
