Greenland melt could cover Florida

Greenland melt shows climate change is natural — just not to this degree. In a two-day period recently, so much ice melted on Greenland that you could cover the entire state of Florida with five inches of water. That’s a way for climate experts, and science writers, to drive home the significance of the changes in the far-off arctic to the rest of the world. There’s a complex trio of factors behind the shorthand, however, as Vice tackles in this feature: short-term weather events like the temperatures that cooked much of Europe; long-term climate trends; and natural circulation patterns in the atmosphere, known as North Atlantic Oscillation, which can work with or against global warming to counteract or compound Arctic ice melt.

Harry Reid wants climate to dominate 2020 election. Tackle climate-change legislation first, even before health care, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says in a Daily Beast exclusive. The Democratic elder statesman feels so strongly about this agenda he’d even accept scrapping the filibuster rule that’s often attached to his name (as well as to Mitch McConnell) for a better chance at passage. But climate-change progress would likely hinge on Democrats retaking the White House, securing a Senate majority, and then 50 of those senators deciding they’re comfortable changing the rules of their chamber to get rid of the filibuster.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/greenland-melt-could-cover-florida-and-harry-reid-wants-2020-focus-on-climate-change-over-health-care-2019-08-08