EcoWatch: The melting permafrost in the Arctic could cost the world dearly. New research calculates that the economic damage that would flow from loss of permafrost and the increased emissions of greenhouse gases would add up to $43 trillion.
This is very nearly the estimated combined gross domestic product last year of the U.S., China, Japan, Germany, UK, France and Brazil.
And, British and U.S. scientists say, this would be in addition to at least $300 trillion of economic damage linked to other consequences...