Try to fit these facts together:

* According to
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the planet has
just come through the warmest decade, the warmest 12 months, the warmest
six months, and the warmest April, May, and June on record.

* A “staggering” new study from
Canadian researchers has shown that warmer seawater has reduced
phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain, by 40% since 1950.

* Nine
nations have so far set their all-time temperature records in 2010,
including Russia (111 degrees), Niger (118), Sudan (121), Saudi Arabia
and Iraq (126 apiece), and Pakistan, which also set the new
all-time Asia record in May: a hair under 130 degrees. I can turn
my oven to 130 degrees.

* And then, in late July, the U.S. Senate decided to do exactly
nothing about climate change. They didn’t do less than they could have
— they did 
nothing, preserving a perfect two-decade bipartisan
record of no action. Senate majority leader Harry Reid decided not even
to schedule a vote on legislation that would have capped carbon
emissions.

I wrote the first book for a general audience on global warming back
in 1989, and I’ve spent the subsequent 21 years working on the issue.
I’m a mild-mannered guy, a Methodist Sunday School teacher. Not quick to
anger. So what I want to say is: this is fucked up. The time has come
to get mad, and then to get busy.

For many years, the lobbying fight for climate legislation on Capitol
Hill has been led by a collection of the most corporate and moderate
environmental groups, outfits like the Environmental Defense Fund. We
owe them a great debt, and not just for their hard work. We owe them a
debt because they did everything the way you’re supposed to: they wore
nice clothes, lobbied tirelessly, and compromised at every turn.

By the time they were done, they had a bill that only capped carbon
emissions from electric utilities (not factories or cars) and was so
laden with gifts for industry that if you listened closely you could
actually hear the oinking. They bent over backwards like Soviet
gymnasts.  Senator John Kerry, the legislator they worked most closely
with, issued this rallying cry as the final negotiations began: “We
believe we have compromised significantly, and we’re prepared to
compromise further.”

And even that was not enough.  They were left out to dry by
everyone — not just Reid, not just the Republicans. Even President
Obama wouldn’t lend a hand, investing not a penny of his political
capital in the fight.

The result: total defeat, no moral victories.

Now What?

So now we know what we didn’t before: making nice doesn’t work. It
was worth a try, and I’m completely serious when I say I’m grateful they
made the effort, but it didn’t even come close to working. So we better
try something else.