A new study reveals that rising global temperatures are altering ecosystems—from thawing permafrost to intensifying wildfires and warming wetlands—causing them to release significant amounts of methane and CO2. These natural emissions, triggered by human-driven climate change, risk amplifying global heating by up to a third, creating a dangerous feedback loop. The findings highlight how forests, soils, and frozen landscapes are shifting from carbon sinks to sources of greenhouse gases, accelerating the climate crisis. Scientists warn these changes could further destabilize the planet’s climate system.
Emissions of planet-heating methane and CO2 from natural sources are worsening the climate crisis, paper saysRising global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels are transforming the world’s forests, wetlands and tundra to the point they are releasing emissions that could further worsen global heating by as much as 30%, a new study has found.As the world heats up, permafrost in the high latitudes is thawing, fiercer wildfires are burning in drying forests and wetlands and lakes are warming. All of these changes are themselves causing the release of planet-heating methane and carbon dioxide locked in trees and soils, therefore worsening the climate crisis, the paper states. Continue reading...
