Spirits of the Underworld

Vanity Fair‘s Alex Shoumatoff explores the spirits of the underworld in his article The Arctic Oil Rush. Tundra methane that could dwarf fossil fuel emissions as a greenhouse gas, as well as dormant pleistocene bacteria capable of producing plagues, comprise just two of the dramatic elements of what Shoumatoff terms the ‘mammoth’s revenge’. Indigenous Siberian shamans claim it all has to do with disrespecting nature and disrupting the dead. I’d be hard-pressed to put it any better.