Details | Join us for a virtual screening of the short film Feedback Loops: Permafrost. Watch the film at your convenience upon registration, and tune in on July 14, 2021, for a live discussion with Max Holmes (Deputy Director, Woodwell Climate Research Center), Edda Mutter (Science Director, Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council), and Merritt Turetsky (Director, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at University of Colorado Boulder) moderated by Juliana Olsson (Exhibit Writer and Editor, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History). This program is offered as part of the 4-part virtual series Natural History on the Big Screen: Feedback Loops, taking place monthly May-August, 2021. Register to receive the screening and Zoom Webinar links.
About the Film: Permafrost, an icy expanse of frozen ground covering one-quarter of the Northern Hemisphere, is thawing. As it does, microscopic animals are waking up and feeding on the previously frozen carbon stored in plant and animal remains, releasing heat-trapping gases as a byproduct. These gases further warm the atmosphere, melting more permafrost in a dangerous feedback loop. With permafrost containing twice as much carbon as the atmosphere, its thaw could release 150 billion tons of carbon by the end of the century. |
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