The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
April 21, 2023

Accelerating Ice Melt from Greenland and Antarctica Is Driving Sea Levels Higher
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A new study finds the vast ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica
are melting three times faster than they were just 30 years ago. Study
co-author Ruth Mottram described the findings as "disastrous," warning
coastal communities will face increasing amounts of flooding as sea
level rise accelerates due to the melting ice. On Thursday, the European
Commission's climate agency reported 2022 was the continent's
second-warmest year on record, and warned this year is on track to set
more record temperatures across Europe and around the world. This is
Samantha Burgess of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Samantha Burgess: "We saw prolonged and extensive heat waves and also
prolonged and extensive drought over much of the continent. We had the
highest emissions of carbon from wildfires in a number of countries, and
those wildfires were bigger than average, they started earlier than
average, and the season persisted longer than average. We also saw
record ice melt from glaciers in the European Alps. So climate change
isn't a future problem; it is a current problem."



.