Back In February Dr. James Hanson, of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, gave a seminal speech to the National Press Club about the five most critical actions needed from the US Congress in response to the risk of impending climate catastrophe. Paraphrasing, Dr. Hansen said the needs are to: 1.) place a "moratorium on building any more coal-fired power plants until we have the technology to capture and sequester the CO2"; 2.) put a gradually rising price on emissions"; 3.) mandate maximum achievable energy-efficiency standards on vehicles, buildings, appliances, and so on; 4.) ask the National Academy of Sciences to do a study on the risk of polar ice sheet collapse; 5.) Reform the way in which agencies of the Federal government communicate scientific characterization of risk and introduce effective campaign finance reform, so that special interests no longer have such a big influence on policy-makers. It's not long, and it's well written. Go read "Why we can't wait." at The Nation.

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