'As the tundra burns, we cannot afford climate silence': a letter from the Arctic | Victoria Herrmann

I study the Arctic. The decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord is reprehensible - but we can't give up hope

When you stand facing an exposed edge of permafrost, you can feel it from a distance.

It emanates a cold that tugs on every one of your senses. Permanently bound by ice year after year, the frozen soil is packed with carcasses of woolly mammoths and ancient ferns. They're unable to decompose at such low temperatures, so they stay preserved in perpetuity - until warmer air thaws their remains and releases the cold that they've kept cradled for centuries.