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Article snippet: The Trump administration this month introduced rules that would roll back Obama-era regulations on vehicle emissions and coal fired plants, raising concerns in the scientific community about how a slower approach to decreasing carbon emissions will affect the world's climate. Arctic melting, raging forest fires and increasingly brutal summer temperatures are just a handful of the signs that climate change may have transitioned from a lingering threat to a phase where it might be too late to mitigate some of its effects. Arctic’s thickest ice layer breaks for first time on record The oldest sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, in the most northern parts of the planet, began breaking up this summer for the first time in recorded history. The area off the north coast of Greenland is usually a frozen sheet of ice -- so solid that scientists referred to it as “the last ice area,” an assumption that it would resist the melting caused by climate change. Experts attribute this summer’s unprecedented phenomenon to warm winds and a rise in temperatures caused by the recent heatwave in the Northern Hemisphere. Large ice chunks in the region have pushed the ice sheet the farthest distance from Greenland’s coast since record-keeping began in the 1970s. Scientists say the significant shift will lead to quicker melting, contributing to rising sea levels. “I cannot tell how long this open water patch will remain open, but even if it closes in few days from now, the harm will be done: t... Link to the full article to read more