Global warming is largely attributed to the emission of harmful greenhouse gases caused by industrial pollution and by simple day-to-day human activities, like driving cars and heating homes. Nowhere is the impact being felt greater than in the Arctic region where the temperatures are rising at an alarming rate.

While the melting snow is a concern, an even bigger concern is that this region also holds a lot of carbon under the Permafrost - If this gets released, it would just add to our global warming woes. Now, a Russian scientist is trying to reverse the trend, by re-creating the Pleistocene era commonly known as Ice Age.

Sergei Zimov, a quantum scientist believes that the Arctic global warming began about 10,000 years ago, soon after the 1.8 million year Ice Age era ended. According to him when we lost both the fauna and the flora of that period, we effectively destroyed the ecosystem that had kept the region in balance.

According to the scientist, when herbivores roamed the Arctic plains, the ice was not melting. He believes it was because their constant grazing in the summer resulted in short lush grass with a complex root system, that helped keep the soil intact.

In the winters, the constant trampling by the animals compacted the ice and helped keep the ground frozen, which kept the greenhouse gases trapped in. Additionally, grasses are better than trees at reflecting light, further preventing the ground snow from melting.

So convinced is he about this theory that in 1988, Mr. Zimov closed off a 40,000 acre property in a remote arctic region - 6,600 kilometers from Moscow, and began to re-create the old world by introducing 40 Yakutian or wild horses, which had roamed the area in abundance during the ice age.

The initial group did not do too well - Almost half of them were killed by natural predators outside the compound, while about 12 died after eating poisonous hemlock, native to the region. Undeterred, he brought in a new batch, which not only learnt to defend themselves and avoid poisonous plants, but also, had little colts. The Moose came next and while some of them keep wandering off by jumping over the 6-ft fence, most of them have survived. In September this year, he added baby musk oxen to the mix and while one died, the others seem to be doing okay.

Today, he has about 70 animals in his unusual Ice Reserve. His dream is to introduce a thousand Canadian Bison and once there is enough prey, to bring in predators like foxes and even Siberian tigers, so that the ecosystem is balanced naturally.

Outside the reserve, a monitoring tower constantly records the readings of methane, carbon dioxide and water vapor and transmits them to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to see if his experiment is working even at this micro-level. His unusual experiment is drawing many curious scientists to the remote icy region.

Whether this experiment will make a significant impact to reduce global warming is not yet known. However, it is a huge undertaking by one single man and seems like a logical, albeit unusual solution to alleviate global warming, doesn't it?

Sources: news.yahoo.com,wikipedia.com,treehugger.com, livescience.com