A video of a raging river gushing out of a glacier is going viral after it was posted by Journalist Laurie Garrett on Thursday. The river is a result of unusually high temperatures in the Arctic that caused a total of 12 billion tons of ice to melt out into the ocean in just 24 hours.
Congresswoman and author of the Green New Deal Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared the video on Twitter earlier today with an urgent message: “We don’t have time to argue.”
This is what sea level rise looks like.
Those who argue that a #GreenNewDeal is too ambitious don’t see that glacial melt isn’t waiting – in fact, it’s happening at a much faster rate than predicted.
We don’t have time to argue. We need to act – on a massive scale. ???? https://t.co/VbpT1sCudq
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 2, 2019
Mass glacial melt during the summer isn’t unusual, but according to experts, something like this should only happen once per year. This is the second time this has happened this year and summer is only halfway over. Climate scientist Ruth Mottram told CNN that while the normal summer melt totals 60 to 70 billion tons, 197 billion tons of ice melted from the Arctic glaciers in the month of July alone.
This along with the record high temperatures that are resulting in huge wildfires across the Arctic are painting a grim picture for the future of the planet. Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold points out that Greenland’s current glacial melt rate was predicted by climate scientists to happen by 2070, not 2019.
In the past, climate change seemed like a problem for the future — bad things would happen, maybe, but not until like 2070.
That was wrong.
Today, Greenland is melting at the rate once projected for 2070. https://t.co/ZtK2gq6uoQ— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) August 1, 2019
Will this get conservatives to finally start taking the climate crisis seriously? Probably not. Many of the replies to Ocasio-Cortez’s warning are less than encouraging.
God is in control of the weather and the boundaries of the sea. It is foolish to believe you have power over any of it. All you have is trickery. The idea of climate change in the hands of man was invented by thieves.
— Jess Telling Truth (@fixurheart2016) August 2, 2019
Those of us living in reality are showing that at least Democratic politicians need to do a lot more if they want to keep getting elected.
You have to deal with greedy deniers. Good luck AOC- sane and moral people applaud you.
— Angela (@amg1335) August 2, 2019
Dems must mobilize young people to vote, the people who literally fear their lives will be cut short by global climate catastrophe. Also their parents & grandparents who would like to see their gene pools perpetuated beyond a few decades. This is a HUGE voting block.
— Breaking News/Views (@BarendHamm) August 2, 2019
The fact that we have to fight what seems like half the American public about emergency issues like the climate emergency just blows my freaking mind! #ClimateEmergency #SaveEarth #GreenNewDeal
— Progressive Social Worker LSW ???? (@ProSocialWorker) August 2, 2019
I don’t know why people don’t get this. This isn’t a partisan issue. We are all going to burn or drown together regardless of party.
— Ailyiaa (@Ailyiaa) August 2, 2019
How I wish you were old enough to run for President now!
— DianeDobbins (@DianeDobbins) August 2, 2019
The replies to this tweet are how you know the Republican Party is officially cancerous to America. The entire party and its base would rather see the entire planet perish than move an inch to admit that change is necessary.
— CrazyChris576 (@CrazyChris576) August 2, 2019
This to me is much more terrifying than anyone crossing a border or someone fleeing from a foreign country.
— michelle schellhorn (@shellyschell) August 2, 2019
President* Trump’s disrespect puts all of our lives in danger.
We MUST build a #GreenNewDeal together if we want to live. ????https://t.co/riUXF32z64
— Adam Rifkin ???? (@ifindkarma) August 2, 2019
The more right wing countries become the higher the risk of accelerated global warming. The shift politically will cause irreparable damage to the planet.
— Elliebelle ???????? (@SP2755) August 1, 2019
This makes me very sad and very upset at the same time. It really is too late for us to even talk about “stopping” climate change. It is already here and the effects will continue to get worse as it snowballs. We need to prepare for the worst consequences and buy more time.
— Dylan Haymore ???? (@DylanHaymore) August 2, 2019
— ????????????Amor Omnia Vincit???????? (@NativeTexan74) August 1, 2019
Climate change has already arrived..now We the Planet have a Climate Crisis..
we will desperately need the scientists at Dept of Agriculture that Trump is punishing for being right and factual.— Morris Boyd Associat (@MorrisBoyd) August 1, 2019
Just back from Glacier NP. Daughter (24) had college textbook that sited 35 glaciers still in Glacier. Signs in park now say 2 dozen. Returned home to Missoula with out-of-control wildfire nearby. Water-dropping copters, planes flying over as I type. So scary. The crisis is now!
— Lapis Lazuli (@LapisLazuliii99) August 1, 2019
Watching Bloomberg business overnight they interviewed the CEO of Shell he even spoke of needing to reduce carbon emissions. The only people that don’t get it are Republicans!
— Addison James (@Addi_James) August 1, 2019
