GLOBAL warming could release thousands of tonnes of toxic pollution trapped
in Britain’s peat bogs, poisoning rivers and threatening wildlife, say
government scientists. Badly contaminated bogs in other parts of Europe, Russia
and North America may present just as much of a threat.
Over centuries, bogs have soaked up the heavy metals that industry releases
into the atmosphere, combining them with organic materials in the peat. The
danger now, according to a forthcoming report by the Centre for Ecology and
Hydrology in Bangor, Gwynedd, and Windermere, Cumbria, is that climate change
will dry out the bogs, letting the metals escape…
