My first story from Yakutia, with great pictures by @AFPMladen. Troubling times for people living in Soviet-era houses built on permafrost without climate change in mind. news.yahoo.com/siberian-regio…
This is how people study permafrost in the Permafrost Institute's freezing underground lab: they cut the permafrost cylinders like sausage. 
And these structures that look like anti-tank obstacles are called "seasonal cooling installations". Freon or Kerosene in the part above ground cools in the winter and drops below surface in condensed form to keep the permafrost solid.
Yakutia this year became the first (in the world, I think) to pass a framework law to protect permafrost. But to actually change construction rules, locals say a federal law is needed, and Yakutia's lobbying in Moscow has so far fallen on deaf ears.
Here's a short @AFP internet video for the permafrost story, done by @evgeny_bogatov
More Yakutia factoids: the region is losing about 2 meters of coastline every year due to accelerated erosion. Building foundations' stilts used to be 6-8 meters long, now they have to extend 16 meters or more into permafrost, making construction more expensive.
The region (which would be the 8th biggest country in the world had it been an independent state) also has about 20 highly dangerous waste reservoirs for things like gold mine tailings. Yakutia is worried about them leeching into melting ground.
For a more planetary perspective on permafrost and implications of its destruction, here's a nice @AFP video graphic and a separate story news.yahoo.com/permafrost-cli…
It's not just Yakutia that's affected: huge territory in Yamal had to be "cleansed" with chlorine and burning tires after reindeer contracted anthrax from a thawing burial ground. Herders now have to kill their reindeer because there aren't enough pastures yahoo.com/news/scientist…
