Abstract for:Pleistocene Park: A Feasibility Study Using System Dynamics

Climate change is a major concern of the international community. Scientists have formed international teams to try to tackle the problem.  One of the more radical approaches comes from Russian scientist Sergei Zimov who is attempting to reintroduce megafauna such as mammoths to alter the ecosystem of northern Siberia to slow climate change. Pleistocene Park is Zimov’s experiment to prove his theory, which he has already expanded, by addressing the issue of snow insulation and permafrost thawing, Zimov aims to keep carbon trapped in Siberian permafrost, slowing and even reversing global warming. The model examines the feasibility of Pleistocene Park, determining if and when the park will produce significant results, and how effective this approach could be. This work begins with a literature review on Pleistocene Park that expands to the carbon cycle and carbon dynamics in freezing climates.  This work is the basis for modeling the system that includes current work on reintroduction genetics, specifically that involved with bringing back woolly mammoths. Pleistocene Park is a viable option, and although it is impossible to predict all the implications, the research indicates that it could help slow or reverse climate change over the next hundred years.