New data and reports of a rapidly warming Arctic prompt the Gray Lady to publish a decent op-ed:
Globally, 2010 is on track to be the warmest year on record. In regions around the world, indications abound that earth’s climate is quickly changing, like the devastating mudslides in China and weeks of searing heat in Russia. But in the world’s capitals, movement on climate policy has nearly stopped. ... Policy makers need to accept that societies won’t make drastic changes to address climate change until such a crisis hits. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for them to do in the meantime. When a crisis does occur, the societies with response plans on the shelf will be far better off than those that are blindsided. The task for national and regional leaders, then, is to develop a set of contingency plans for possible climate shocks — what we might call, collectively, Plan Z.
Tiny nit-pick: Plan Z for climate change better include a time machine somewhere. Without some way to affect past, piss-poor decisions, it's hard to make an effective change after the Greenland ice sheet slides into the North Atlantic.
continued at Daily Kos....
