Unregulated Coal, Meet Thawing Permafrost

This is the day that the climate change fight was obviously lost

"It’s just coincidence that the Trump plan on power plant emissions should be announced the same day as the news about Arctic ice is reported. Any number of other things could have combined in a similar way to make obvious the split between what’s happening in the world and what’s happening in Washington. Both of the developments Tuesday, though, are very significant and very telling. For those eager to have bolder action from political leaders on slowing changes to the climate over the long term, a key frustration is how humans perceive time itself.

The capital is a place where political effects are measured in the scale of days, if not minutes. The global climate shift is measured in years, if not decades. And, slowly, this is the point we’ve gotten to."