If the arctic continues to melt, it could poison the world
Mercury poisoning, anyone?
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HEALTH global warming
It’s almost like the scary part of a myth or fairy tale. The poison apple, as it were. Or Pandora’s box. The Arctic is melting, no doubt about it. Inside its icy confines, trapped there by freezing cold temperatures, is a massive amount of toxic mercury. And as the Arctic permafrost thaws, it will release the mercury into the atmosphere.
This is potentially very dangerous for humanity. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that can cause birth defects and neurological damage in humans and other animals.
We’re not talking about low levels of mercury, either. We’re talking 32 million gallons of the stuff, which could fill 50 Olympic swimming pools, according to a recently published study in ‘Geophysical Research Letters.’ That’s “twice as much mercury as the rest of all soils, the atmosphere, and ocean combined,” it said.
So if released, where will all the mercury go? Scientists aren’t sure, but it could leach into the rivers and the Arctic Ocean, enter the atmosphere, or both.
“The magnitude of this risk is as yet unknown,” permafrost expert Sue Natali said in a statement. “The best option for managing these permafrost-related risks is to keep the permafrost—and the carbon and mercury contained in permafrost—frozen, through immediate reduction of fossil fuel emissions.”
After all, there are few buzzkills as potent as accidentally poisoning everyone with mercury.