What will happen to the planet if climate change melts what’s left of Arctic permafrost? Shedding light on this overlooked threat, Arctic geologist Sue Natali reveals the true danger of heating up the iciest place on the planet: the release of ancient carbon that will dramatically worsen our climate problems. In this urgent talk, she introduces a new initiative, Permafrost Pathways, and their work to measure permafrost carbon emissions, fuse Indigenous solutions with modern technologies and protect the rights of Arctic residents.
This ambitious plan is a part of the Audacious Project, TED’s initiative to inspire and fund global change. Watch all the talks from this year’s cohort at
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LDoctorKC
May 4, 2022 at 4:14 pm
Question: if carbon dioxide is heavier than “air”, it seems the biggest cause of atmospheric warming is due to dumping tons of carbon dioxide at 37,000 feet by every jet in the air. Ground level Co2 is recycled by plants, but there is no natural way of clearing upper atmosphere co2 emissions. I’m no expert by any stretch and only suggesting the majority of our problems could be from those flights around the world. The other comment I’d like is how we ignore the elephant in the room – energy use. Every traffic light that ignores current traffic flow wastes enormous amounts of energy. We need to figure out how to be far more efficient and stop wasting energy.
Dave Byrne
May 4, 2022 at 4:57 pm
No, CO2 is mixed pretty evenly by wind and convection in the atmosphere.
LDoctorKC
May 4, 2022 at 5:52 pm
A 747 takes off with 400,000 lbs of liquid carbon, 787 maybe half or so. You oxidize that fuel and carbon becomes carbon dioxide (generically speaking). In the upper atmosphere, things are much different, and while I agree ground emissions are bad, imo it doesn’t compare with dumping it in the upper atmosphere.
LDoctorKC
May 4, 2022 at 5:54 pm
@Dave Byrne good point, but short of a volcano, surface airflow is different than above. It does mix, but we’ve seen two cases of weather changes due to flight cancellations. 911 and COVID.
Elazar de Lusignan M.
May 4, 2022 at 10:09 pm
Do you know the difference between CO & CO2?
Inlakesh
May 4, 2022 at 11:01 pm
If CO2 is heavier than air than how does it stay suspended in the upper atmosphere? Wouldn’t it just sink down to the troposphere, or all the way to the ground for that matter?
Yogi
May 4, 2022 at 4:25 pm
Karma is that every action we take has an impact or result, and we then suffer or enjoy the repercussions of our efforts!
LDoctorKC
May 4, 2022 at 4:33 pm
We use the term climate change a one way change and assume it’s “good or bad”. During the pandemic when flights and transportation fell off drastically, it created climate change. As you lower carbon emissions or change the landscape by covering grass with panels, it will change the climate. Remember, most weather events happen in the spring and fall during the change in seasons. The planet is seeking equilibrium, and all change is not confined to one aspect. I do not believe we should be hyper focused on only one aspect.
shsummers
May 4, 2022 at 4:33 pm
Be very afraid of things that are unverifiable and beyond your control. Become completely pliant.
INOYB
May 4, 2022 at 4:35 pm
Whisting past the overpopulation graveyard.
wbball15
May 4, 2022 at 4:37 pm
Complete Horse Puckey
LineInTheSand
May 4, 2022 at 4:50 pm
Though this was a science presentation, not a bloody do-goody PR campaign by an activist.
Tom Payne
May 4, 2022 at 5:12 pm
I think she used every conceivable woke buzz word possible in her talk.
charles womack
May 4, 2022 at 5:51 pm
Everyone: Rest assured that technology will defeat Manbearpig! However, walking and riding your bike are both options!
Ray Bod
May 4, 2022 at 6:16 pm
It’s already too late and global temperature will rise at least 2 degrees. Too many feedbacks are in play… major methane releases in Arctic regions, collapsing ice shelfs, fires causing more carbon release and people avoiding reality because they aren’t hurting enough. The first two problems caused by rising global temperatures are already happening with more outbreaks of diseases and increased storm damage. The third problem will be food shortages caused by crop failures. Flooding of coastal areas including major cities will be last.
John Fausett
May 4, 2022 at 6:17 pm
“Stuff that’s happening on the planet is going to kill you.” This mantra has become so ubiquitous that if there truly was a threat, Im pretty sure we’d never see it coming.
Dantick09
May 4, 2022 at 6:18 pm
OMG We are all gonna die! Someday
robobrain10000
May 4, 2022 at 6:35 pm
I am not watching any video where the likes and dislikes are disabled from public view, and I will automatically dislike that video and move on.
John BEE
May 4, 2022 at 7:11 pm
Might have been one of the worst TED Talks that I have seen
me
May 4, 2022 at 7:24 pm
It’s not “Ancient Arctic Carbon Threatens”, it should be “Human Species Threatens Everyone on the Planet”.
Florian Hansch
May 4, 2022 at 8:21 pm
How dramatic, I’m pretty happy about climate change. I’d be sat on 2 miles of Ice otherwise, hang on we didn’t have fossil fuels at the end of the Ice age, was it mammoth farts?
Reventlov
May 4, 2022 at 8:29 pm
I will be soooooooooooooooooooooo glad to pay a new tax to fight this evil artic carbon 😀
Tayo39
May 4, 2022 at 9:26 pm
Threatens Everyone….no way !!!
L
Elazar de Lusignan M.
May 4, 2022 at 10:07 pm
This is pure fear mongering. There was a time recorded in the geological record, wherein the Arctic region was tropical. Climate always changes. Let’s hope this continues. This is a transient dimension, not a fixed condition.
Winston O'Boogie
May 4, 2022 at 10:55 pm
Revelation 11:18
…the time has come… for destroying those who destroy the earth.
MX WARLORD
May 4, 2022 at 11:05 pm
BS
Inlakesh
May 4, 2022 at 11:05 pm
I’m so tired of the catchphrase “climate change”. This is just part of the natural planetary cycle that Earth has been through many times. Yes I said NATURAL planetary cycle. Because no matter how awesome and how impactful we believe ourselves to be, the earth produces its own system of checks and balances- even with us trying to f*** everything up. It has been able to overcome past warming through an increase in thriving plant life which absorbs CO2 and produces oxygen as a bonus. All the hottest parts of the Earth’s history were marked massive increases in photosynthesizing plants. These man-made carbon capture factories that are being turned on to pull the carbon dioxide out of the air are just going to exacerbate the problem. The methane coming out of the oceans is producing far more CO2 than anything humans could ever hope to produce. That said, if they keep capturing it out of the atmosphere they’re going to kill plant life in one hemisphere or the other, which will only compound the warming problem and the buildup of greenhouse gases. Let’s just plant trees and other green plants and let them do their thing!
Albert Will
May 5, 2022 at 12:20 am
Enormity: The quality of passing all moral bounds; excessive wickedness or outrageousness.
A monstrous offense or evil; an outrage.
Great size; immensity.
Perhaps a different word might be better used to express great size; immensity so that people don’t interpret enormity as excessive wickedness or monstrous offense or evil.
Ray Benoit
May 5, 2022 at 12:37 am
Thanks Ted , for more propaganda
Misorganic1
May 5, 2022 at 12:54 am
Liar liar liar liar liar liar pants on fire liar liar pants on fire
Marshall R.
May 5, 2022 at 1:18 am
Thank you 12 year old very cool
Jake Riley
May 5, 2022 at 2:00 am
Check ice growth today in the Arctic, it’s still gaining and it’s May 4th 2022!! 2019 was an anomaly, not climate change
Irving Peenwiddle
May 5, 2022 at 2:09 am
Carbon increase ALWAYS follows warming. It is not the other way round.
What The Function
May 5, 2022 at 2:48 am
We ded
Rand Kelvrek
May 5, 2022 at 3:48 am
“Computer modeling”. When was the last time any of these models were even remotely close to observed reality? I suppose it doesn’t matter because climate change will wipe us out in like 12 years. Of course they’ve been saying garbage like that since the 90s.
sojourn drummond
May 5, 2022 at 6:02 am
No one will escape we have to deal with this. It’s our fault and actions that got us hear
Jon Hylow
May 5, 2022 at 6:28 am
I know something that is worse. Winter and this version of democracy.
Joe Bloggs
May 5, 2022 at 7:07 am
Not everyone, as each hemisphere can act somewhat independently of the other, so people who live in the Southern Hemisphere will likely be living as normal.
300 500
May 5, 2022 at 5:17 pm
Unlikely that we even know what normal is anymore. 1/3 of the world has been turned to desert, and nobody is talking about that either.
russel viper
May 5, 2022 at 5:31 pm
Penguin People in Antarctica U mean?
Joe Bloggs
May 5, 2022 at 6:49 pm
@300 500
1/3rd of the world turned into dessert? Is that a bad thing? Always my favorite after dinner course…
Eugen Aleksandrov
May 5, 2022 at 7:46 am
For the first time in history, all of humanity is facing a common external enemy. This enemy is the climate. In the face of planetary danger, it is necessary to unite all people for the future of humanity. Because we are people, and we want to live.
I invite all caring people to a unique event on May 7. International online forum “Global Crisis. We are People. We Want to Live” is a large-scale and unprecedented event, organized thanks to the independent unification of millions of people from 180 countries on the Creative Society platform.
guy
May 5, 2022 at 8:39 pm
None of that is true.
Ziki zik
May 6, 2022 at 7:02 am
@guy None? So, we are not people? Interesting… I thought I was
John Morgan
May 5, 2022 at 8:45 am
wait! A climate emergency is because a white lady isn’t good at camping in mud?
John Morgan
May 5, 2022 at 8:45 am
Scientists are supposed to be subjective. Muddy isn’t a number on a scale.
Teratrex31
May 5, 2022 at 9:53 am
Someone might be watching us from another universe in a TV
Teratrex
May 5, 2022 at 9:53 am
Someone might be watching us from another universe in a TV
Davidcampbell Campbell
May 5, 2022 at 11:09 am
Absolute bollocks
NFT: Acitzakyeart
May 5, 2022 at 12:07 pm
Hello guys ✌️😁😎😊
guy
May 5, 2022 at 8:35 pm
This is not necessarily that bad
Chess Dad
May 5, 2022 at 9:20 pm
The only thing that can save us is if an alien race arrives and eliminate 95 percent of the world’s human population.
Billionaire
May 5, 2022 at 11:44 pm
Rainn sent me
MirrorWax
May 6, 2022 at 1:01 am
People who go to college in America are the dumbest Americans that exist. And they spend the rest of their lives in debt to their dumb choices. They also spend the rest of their lives limited to doing one thing, the thing they studied in school. This is the most un-organic way to live your life. No one 19 year old can make the decision “what should I do with the rest of my life?” That is a lifelong question that takes many attempts to answer. So you fell for the education scam. Sorry not sorry. I am not paying your student loans.
Tahoe Jones
May 6, 2022 at 2:32 am
Chicken little report.
Mr. C
May 6, 2022 at 2:35 am
Won’t be around to see this… Sounds like a problem for the 2100 folks. Let’s hope humanity can pull away from the intoxication of authoritarianism long enough so progressive ideals can tackle this.
HALON747
May 6, 2022 at 9:45 am
Arctic carbon tax? Next is zombie tax… killer Unicorn tax…Smurf tax..
Mojo Friday
May 6, 2022 at 4:15 pm
This chick: “I’ve been ‘working in the arctic for a decade’ and have never seen changes occur so rapidly.”
Arctic: > 🤷🏼♂
george h
May 7, 2022 at 3:36 am
I think she’s comparing the collapse of the Arctic land with other land closer to the equator being developed for humans or turning into a desert from climate change. It makes sense because the earth is essentially tilling itself throughout the Arctic like at 2:03 without the need of a bulldozer.
myparcel tape
May 9, 2022 at 9:35 pm
@george h Land close to the equator is also changing and has been for 20 years.
Ask the farmers.
listen2meokidoki
May 6, 2022 at 7:12 pm
I’ll believe it when it happens.
Dan Burnes
May 6, 2022 at 8:51 pm
These facts are easily accessible to everyone, but I do wonder how influential a slick production with an attractive speaker encourages change from these TED talks. Hopefully it does rather than just give celebrity to the speaker.
Sheree Lee Chin
May 6, 2022 at 9:25 pm
Thank you for sharing
Vagabond
May 7, 2022 at 7:41 pm
Context:
Humanity has no idea what it’s talking about.
Alwyn Nito
May 8, 2022 at 1:20 am
Oh great, more chain effects from karma!
Gntl Stone
May 8, 2022 at 4:52 am
I fear how the damage the unchecked fires in Siberia will further compound this problem.
Chris Knorr
May 9, 2022 at 4:10 pm
The sky is also falling.