cc: schlesin@atmos.uiuc.edu, lempert@rand.org, Daniel.Sarewitz@asu.edu, p.jones@uea.ac.uk, shs@stanford.edu, wmw@ucar.edu, jmahlman@ucar.edu, manabe@splash.princeton.edu, m.hulme@uea.ac.uk, thomas.lowe@rmit.edu.au, penner@umich.edu, covey1@llnl.gov, wallace@atmos.washington.edu, jholdren@whrc.org, hjacoby@mit.edu, jhansen@giss.nasa.gov, schmidt@giss.nasa.gov, schlesin@atmos.uiuc.edu, wpatzert@jpl.nasa.gov, mmaccrac@comcast.net, omichael@princeton.edu, hare@pik-potsdam.de date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 13:45:54 -0600 from: Michael Schlesinger subject: Re: a query to all... to: Andy Revkin Andy: You sent me your song in August 2005, a month I shall never forget. The 5-4 'hanging-chad' decision is a real-world example of a bifurcation point from which there can be no going back, this as witness by 3000 young American men and women lying in their graves, with more to come. What the United States needs to confront the challenges of human-induced climate change is LEADERSHIP from its CEO. Alas, we shall have to await 20 January 2009, at the earliest, for such Leadership. Michael a very very very poignant and true point, michael. i have a song called "a very fine line" that explores all those facets of life like that. At 01:58 PM 1/5/2007, Michael Schlesinger wrote: Andy: Despite the large climatic diversity of the United States, which ranges from arctic Alaska to tropical Hawaii, had the 5-to-4 'hanging-chad' decision of the U.S. Supreme Court swung the other way, the U.S. would have confronted the challenges of human-induced climate change these past 6 years, rather than deny and avoid them. And, we would not now be mired in Iraq. Michael this'll be refreshing after our recent back-and-forths. a quick question. given that climate, for most folks, remains local... doing a short piece for weekend assessing thesis that it's harder to build momentum for climate action in USA because we're so darned large and climatically variegated (epic snow in rockies, balmy in northeastern states, etc) compared to, say, Europe (which tends to experience a 'common' climate, to some extent...)... anyone thought about that much before? happy to hear your thoughts (but promptly!) ANDREW C. REVKIN The New York Times / Environment 229 West 43d St., NY NY 10036 phone: 212-556-7326 / e-mail: revkin@nytimes.com / fax: 509-357-0965 Arctic book: The North Pole Was Here: www.nytimes.com/learning/globalwarming Amazon book: The Burning Season www.islandpress.org/burning Acoustic-roots band: www.myspace.com/unclewade ANDREW C. REVKIN The New York Times / Environment 229 West 43d St., NY NY 10036 phone: 212-556-7326 / e-mail: revkin@nytimes.com / fax: 509-357-0965 Arctic book: The North Pole Was Here: www.nytimes.com/learning/globalwarming Amazon book: The Burning Season www.islandpress.org/burning Acoustic-roots band: www.myspace.com/unclewade