Some news and the afternoon’s open thread.

1. Merry Christmas from George W. Bush.

   According to the AP, Bush makes holiday calls to troops. “Bush made Christmas Eve calls to 10 U.S. troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other spots around the world, thanking them for their sacrifice and wishing them a happy holiday even though they’ll be far away from their families and friends. The president made his calls Monday from the Camp David presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains, where he is spending Christmas. He spoke with members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard, including seven serving in Iraq… Among those joining the president at the wooded compound in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains are Mrs. Bush’s mother, Jenna Welch; and the first couple’s twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna; the president’s sister, Doro Bush Koch and her family; and the president’s brother, Marvin, and his family.”

2. Merry Christmas from Iraq.

   The AP reports Suicide attacks in Iraq kill at least 34. “Two separate suicide attacks, including one apparently targeting workers in a northern oil hub, killed at least 34 people on Tuesday… A suicide truck bomb exploded outside a residential complex belonging to a state-run oil company in Beiji, home to Iraq’s largest refinery, killing 25 people and wounding 80… Most of the dead were civilians, and at least four were children… In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, 10 people were killed and five people were wounded in a suicide bombing… Local officials said a bomber wearing an explosives vest targeted a funeral procession for two members of an Awakening Council group – fighters who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq – who were accidentally killed by U.S. troops during a dawn raid.”

3. Merry Christmas from Afghanistan.

   The Canadian Press reports Christmas in Kandahar not quite the same without snow and family. “It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas in Kandahar, but without a speck of snow in sight, Canadian troops say it just doesn’t quite feel like it… Carols, festive fare, dance parties, and king can beer rations have even been plentiful this Christmas Eve, but for family men like Capt. Patrick Hannan, it just isn’t the same without his wife and 10-year-old daughter.” Stories in the American press about U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan? Not a one that I could find, but France’s AFP reports on A Christmas far away from home for troops in Afghanistan.

4. Merry Christmas to Pakistan.

   According to The New York Times, American aid may help the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

   Weeks before it is to begin, an ambitious American aid plan to counter militancy in Pakistan’s tribal areas is threatened by important unresolved questions about who will monitor the money and whether it could fall into the wrong hands…

   Weeks before it is to begin, an ambitious American aid plan to counter militancy in Pakistan’s tribal areas is threatened by important unresolved questions about who will monitor the money and whether it could fall into the wrong hands…

   The region remains so dangerous that it is virtually off limits even to American military officials and civilians who would oversee the programs. The Pakistani authorities have ruled out using foreign nonprofit groups, known as NGOs, shorthand for nongovernmental organizations. But neither do they approve the American choice of private contractors. They would like the money to go through them…

   Concerns about corruption are so severe, however, that the first grants will be held to only about $25,000 each, to finance small projects like repairing water wells and small sewage plants…

   Because the United States is viewed with such opprobrium, it will not be identified on any of the aid, preventing any possible flow of good will. The aid will instead be presented as Pakistani. That, said a senior United States Embassy official, would help the Pakistanis feel like owners of the effort. “This is about teaching them how to get smart about how to run the country and win people’s support,” the official said.

May there be peace on Earth.

Some news and afternoon open thread.

1. The Guardian reports Cheney accused of blocking Californian bid to cut car fumes. “The US vice-president, Dick Cheney, was behind a controversial decision to block California’s attempt to impose tough emission limits on car manufacturers, according to insiders at the government Environmental Protection Agency. Staff at the agency, which announced last week that California’s proposed limits were redundant, said the agency’s chief went against their expert advice after car executives met Cheney, and a Chrysler executive delivered a letter to the EPA saying why the state should not be allowed to regulate greenhouse gases.”

2. The Washington Post reports Bush administration ignored warnings about using on mercenaries in Iraq.

   The U.S. government disregarded numerous warnings over the past two years about the risks of using Blackwater Worldwide and other private security firms in Iraq, expanding their presence even after a series of shooting incidents showed that the firms were operating with little regulation or oversight, according to government officials, private security firms and documents.

   The warnings were conveyed in letters and memorandums from defense and legal experts and in high-level discussions between U.S. and Iraqi officials. They reflected growing concern about the lack of control over the tens of thousands of private guards in Iraq, the largest private security force ever employed by the United States in wartime.

   Neither the Pentagon nor the State Department took substantive action to regulate private security companies until Blackwater guards opened fire Sept. 16 at a Baghdad traffic circle, killing 17 Iraqi civilians and provoking protests over the role of security contractors in Iraq.

3. According to The Hill, Kean says CIA is parsing words on interrogation tapes. “Former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean (R), a co-chairman of the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, criticized the CIA Monday for impeding the panel’s work. Kean said CIA tapes that showed interrogations of suspected terrorists should have been turned over to the panel, adding that they fell under a blanket request for information from the intelligence agency. The CIA has since destroyed the tapes, a move that has caused great controversy and criticism from both parties.”

4. The Associated Press reports Big rise in those behind on credit card bills. “Americans are falling behind on their credit-card payments at an alarming rate, sending delinquencies and defaults surging by double-digit percentages in the past year and prompting warnings of worse to come. Experts say the problem is partly a byproduct of the subprime-mortgage crisis and could spell more trouble ahead for an already sputtering economy… Until recently, credit-card default rates had been running close to record lows… The value of credit-card accounts at least 30 days late jumped 26 percent to $17.3 billion in October from a year earlier…”

A story about the Military-Industrial-Santa-Complex lurks below the fold.

Some news and the afternoon’s open thread.

1. The Washington Post reports Federal judge hears CIA tapes case. “U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy… said he would consider the lawyers’ arguments for an urgent court inquiry into whether the destruction of the CIA tapes may have violated Kennedy’s June 2005 order requiring the government to preserve any evidence related to mistreatment of Guantanamo detainees… At the hour-long hearing, a Justice Department lawyer urged the judge to hold off on any investigation, saying such an inquiry could compromise a Justice Department probe that has recently been launched into the tapes’ destruction. [David Remes, an attorney for several detainees,] questioned why the court should trust the Justice Department, which may have been aware of the destruction of the CIA tapes, to now determine whether other Guantanamo-related evidence is being properly preserved.”

2. Oh no! Asteroid on track for possible Mars hit! According to the Los Angeles Times, “An asteroid similar to the one that flattened forests in Siberia in 1908 could plow into Mars next month… Researchers attached to NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program, who sometimes jokingly call themselves the Solar System Defense Team, have been tracking the asteroid since its discovery in late November. The scientists, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, put the chances that it will hit the Red Planet on Jan. 30 at about 1 in 75… The Tunguska object broke up in midair, but the Martian atmosphere is so thin that an asteroid would probably plummet to the surface, digging a crater half a mile wide”. That’s before Martian primary voters can vote on Super-Tuesday.

3. “The Sleuth” aka Mary Ann Akers of the Washington Post writes Gonzales has rough time tapping young minds for legal defense fund. “Buried by legal bills and hard up for cash, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales hit the college speaking circuit last month hoping to rake in big bucks. Instead, he’s been raked over the coals, heckled or flat out turned down by students whose institutions he charges exorbitant fees to tap his amnesiac mind… Gonzales had become the subject of angry editorials and protests on campuses near and far. At the University of Florida last month, he was viciously heckled to the point that two students wearing black hoods and orange jumpsuits blaring the words “civil liberties”- impersonating prisoners at Abu Ghraib – walked on stage and stood next to the former attorney general as he spoke. (Until they were arrested.) It was a tough way to make $40,000. And it stands to get tougher.” Oh, BOO HOO! Cry me a river… AbuG shows up, mumbles, and makes more money than many of us make in a year. This isn’t work, this is a classic academia scam by politicians.

4. Lastly, this little Iowa caucus vignette from The New York Times.

   “Who is your favorite author?” Aleya Deatsch, 7, of West Des Moines asked Mr. Huckabee in one of those posing-like-a-shopping-mall-Santa moments.

   Mr. Huckabee paused, then said his favorite author was Dr. Seuss.

   In an interview afterward with the news media, Aleya said she was somewhat surprised. She thought the candidate would be reading at a higher level.

   “My favorite author is C. S. Lewis,” she said.

Some news and the afternoon’s open thread.

1. According to the Los Angeles Times, Democrats blame Republicans for making them govern like… Republicans. The Democrats’ “approval of a bill giving Bush funds for a war they oppose helps sum up their 2007 congressional record… Democratic leaders left the Capitol complaining that much of their agenda had been thwarted by congressional Republicans who repeatedly stopped their most cherished initiatives. ‘We could have accomplished so much more,’ said a rueful Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.”

   Not everyone is unhappy with the Capitulation Congress. The Hill reports Bush praises Congress. “Bush on Thursday praised leaders from both parties for passing key bills prior to the end of the congressional session and refused to gloat even though Democratic leaders caved to many of the White House’s demands. Bush said the country can be proud of Congress’s action over the past few days, lauding the legislature for fending off the Alternative Minimum Tax, improving energy security and funding the war in Iraq.”

2. The Washington Post asks Will enough men vote for Hillary Clinton? “In Iowa, Clinton’s support among male Democratic caucus goers lags behind Barack Obama, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. In New Hampshire, she’s doing better among male Democrats, but she faces questions about her candor. Half of men say she’s not willing to say what she really thinks… Nationally, her gender gap among Democrats is smaller, the poll shows, but some analysts suggest that these numbers are not strong enough for a general election, because a majority of male independents view her unfavorably… Women’s rights advocates attribute male skepticism about Clinton to long-ingrained sexism — and a sense that men, no matter what they say, just aren’t ready for a female president… But in several interviews with Democratic men across the country, the stated reasons for their aversion to Clinton seem more complicated, and in many cases, far more visceral than substantive.”

3. I have a ten-year-old car that is really starting to show signs of its age. I am loathe to buy a replacement vehicle because I should drive less as it is, lack of money, and auto companies are truly environmental bad guys. Yesterday, the enviro-terrorist Bush administration’s EPA forbade California from having stricter automobile CO2 emissions standards — a gift to the dying Detroit automakers.

   Meanwhile, the New York Times reports Europe proposes binding limits on auto emissions. “European Union officials told leading automakers… to make deep cuts in tailpipe emissions of the cars they produce or face fines that could reach billions of euros. Companies including Volkswagen and Renault immediately promised a fight to weaken the proposed legislation, saying that compliance would be difficult and that it would hurt their competitiveness around the world… The rules would apply to new cars sold in the 200 billion euro ($288 billion) auto market, including those sold by manufacturers based in the United States, Japan and South Korea… None of the 17 major manufacturers selling cars in Europe, including producers of smaller vehicles like Fiat, currently meet the proposed targets.” The automakers are only profitable because they do not have to pay for the greenhouse gas emissions their products produce. The full cost of automobiles are not being addressed.

4. Can you smell the “democracy” in action? The AP reports New Orleans police go Taser-crazy at City Hall. “Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of 4,500 public housing units tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall. One woman was sprayed with chemicals and dragged from the gates. She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials. Before that, the woman was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping. Another woman said she was stunned by officers, and still had what appeared to be a Taser wire hanging from her shirt.” WWL-TV reports “SWAT teams and vans with riot gear were sent to City Hall”.

Some news and the afternoon’s open thread.

1. According to The New York Times, Bush lawyers discussed fate of CIA torture tapes. Four White House lawyers discussed whether to destroy videotape evidence of the CIA’s use of torture. “The involvement of White House officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged.” The lawyers’s involved in the cover-up and evidence destruction included Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, John Bellinger, and Harriet Miers. “There had been ‘vigorous sentiment’ among some top White House officials to destroy the tapes.”

2. 

   The Washington Post reports Stealth-Republicans now in control of Senate. Last night, the Senate approved a $555 billion in deficit spending bill that included $70 billion in unrestricted funds for George W. Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Democrats had vowed only weeks ago to withhold any Iraq-specific money unless strict timelines for troop withdrawal were established, but they instead chose, on a 70 to 25 vote, to remove what appeared to be the final obstacle to sending the spending bill to the White House, where Bush has indicated he will sign it. Senators then passed the omnibus bill, 76 to 17. The House must still approve the revised spending bill, with the unrestricted war funds, but Democrats there concede the measure is likely to pass behind strong Republican support.” As senators and representatives rush home for the holidays, I hope they remember our soldiers fighting Mr. Bush’s wars cannot do the same.

3. According to the Denver Post, Denver can shut down DNC protesters. “If they wished, Denver officials could lock up reservations at prime city parks and deny requests from protesters or other groups during the 2008 Democratic National Convention. City permitting-rule changes being considered by the City Council would create a structure that gives governments first dibs. The revamped permitting process is meant to resolve disputes with protest groups and the American Civil Liberties Union.”

4. The Oregonian reports Buoy blowout blinds coast forecasts. “The loss of two floating weather stations this winter will leave mariners at risk off the Oregon coast… Two of the government’s three close-in weather buoys along the Oregon coast were knocked out by this month’s powerful storm system, so forecasters were relying on incomplete satellite data and a smattering of reports from ships at sea.” Nothing is planned to be done about the missing buoys until after the end of May 2008.

Some afternoon news and Open thread.

1. Torture doesn’t work… even the FBI knows this. According to the Washington Post, the FBI and CIA disagree on significance of terror suspect.

   Al-Qaeda captive Abu Zubaida, whose interrogation videotapes were destroyed by the CIA, remains the subject of a dispute between FBI and CIA officials over his significance as a terrorism suspect and whether his most important revelations came from traditional interrogations or from torture.

   While CIA officials have described him as an important insider whose disclosures under intense pressure saved lives, some FBI agents and analysts say he is largely a loudmouthed and mentally troubled hotelier whose credibility dropped as the CIA subjected him to a simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding and to other ‘enhanced interrogation’ measures…

   FBI officials, including agents who questioned him after his capture or reviewed documents seized from his home, have concluded that even though he knew some al-Qaeda players, he provided interrogators with increasingly dubious information as the CIA’s harsh treatment intensified in late 2002…

   A rift nonetheless swiftly developed between FBI agents, who were largely pleased with the progress of the questioning, and CIA officers, who felt Abu Zubaida was holding out on them and providing disinformation. Tensions came to a head after FBI agents witnessed the use of some harsh tactics on Abu Zubaida, including keeping him naked in his cell, subjecting him to extreme cold and bombarding him with loud rock music.

2. According to the AP, Judge orders hearing on CIA videos. “A federal judge has ordered a hearing on whether the Bush administration violated a court order by destroying CIA interrogation videos of two al-Qaida suspects. U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy rejected calls from the Justice Department to stay out of the matter. He ordered lawyers to appear before him Friday morning. In June 2005, Kennedy ordered the administration to safeguard ‘all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees now at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.’ Five months later, the CIA destroyed the interrogation videos.”

3. The Bush administration is racing against the deadline to reward the corporate ‘news’ organizations that helped them gain and keep power. The Washington Post reports, FCC’s contested cross-ownership rule set for vote. “The Federal Communications Commission is pushing ahead to pass a rule today that would allow more consolidation of local media ownership in the nation’s largest cities, despite the fresh threat of a legislative rebuke and continued protests from advocacy groups. The rule, proposed by Chairman Kevin J. Martin, a Republican, has been assailed by members of his own commission, denounced by a unanimous vote of the Senate Commerce Committee and called harmful to media diversity by a number of groups who say Martin is rushing it through without adequate public comment… Martin’s action is backed by the White House”.

4. This is how our Congress works. Behold! War Pork! The Hill reports Rep. Courtney scores submarine funding win for Connecticut. “Freshman Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) came to Congress this year with one obsession: getting more money for attack submarines, a staple of significant employment in his district… That victory, widely considered a strong boost for the vulnerable Democrat, stemmed in part from a decision of several powerful lawmakers to push Courtney’s cause… Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee; Murtha’s Senate counterpart, Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii); House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.); and Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee.”

A bonus, if you can even call it that, story about Willard Mitt Romney is below the fold.

Some news and OpEn ThReAd.

1. The New York Times reports New Jersey abolishes death penalty. “Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law a measure repealing New Jersey’s death penalty on Monday, making the state the first in a generation to abolish capital punishment. Mr. Corzine also issued an order commuting the sentences of the eight men on New Jersey’ death row to life in prison with no possibility of parole, ensuring that they will stay behind bars for the rest of their lives. In an extended and often passionate speech from his office at the state capitol, Mr. Corzine declared an end to what he called ‘state-endorsed killing,’ and said that New Jersey could serve as a model for other states.

2. Ryan Singel of Wired’s “Threat Level” blog writes Senators Debate retroactive Telco immunity. “Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut), who tried to stop the debate by putting a hold on the bill, fierily denounced the amnesty provision:”

   Collusion in warrantless wiretapping is-and the warrant makes all the difference, because it is precisely the court’s blessing that brings presidential power under the rule of law.

   In sum, we know that giving the telecoms their day in court-giving the American people their day in court-would not jeopardize an ounce of our security.

   And it could only expose one secret: the extent of our president’s lawbreaking, and the extent of his corporations’ complicity.

   TPM Election Central reports his campaign stated Dodd vows to filibuster “as long as he can”. “Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden have all pledged to support” the filibuster, but reportedly are not in Washington to do so.

3. Adam Nagourney of the NY Times writes about Managing a post-Feb. 5 campaign. “As campaigns try to keep up with this fast-paced, multi-layered campaign, there is growing sense among Republicans that for their contest at least – and perhaps for Democrats – Feb. 5 may not be the end of the line. And at the same time, Democrats are looking at a scenario where only two of their candidates emerge out of [Iowa]”… Even if the candidate doesn’t actually accumulate enough delegates to claim the nomination, the pressure from party leaders to coalesce around a nominee, combined with the obstacles facing other candidates who might want to fight on, would carry the day. Except that it is now entirely possible that no Republican will be moving very quickly going into Feb. 5…. An extended contest seems possible on the Democratic side, but less so, because there are fewer strong candidates to divide the Feb. 5 take.”

4. A couple stories from our changing climate. First, The Oregonian reports Cascade resorts plan for a future with less snow. “Cascade Mountain winters are expected to get warmer. So at Mt. Bachelor — as well as just about every ski resort in the Northwest — resort managers are starting to adjust long-term plans based on the predicted effects of global warming. This fall, Mt. Bachelor’s owners hired a group of scientists to create a long-term climate forecast specific to the 9,065-foot butte west of Bend,” Oregon.

   And the Washington Post reports As temperatures rise, health could decline. “Depending on where you are, this is going to be a hotter, wetter, drier, windier, calmer, dirtier, buggier or hungrier century than [humans have] seen in a while. In some places, it may be deadlier, too. The effects of climate change are diverse and sometimes contradictory. In general, they favor instability and extreme events. On balance, they will tend to harm health rather than promote it.” Dangers include: heat stress, extreme weather, air pollution, waterborne and food-Borne disease, and insect- and animal-borne disease.

1. The earth is close if not past a tipping point on climate change, and what does the negotiators eco-saboteurs of the Bush administration do, why undermine any real commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, of course! And while The Guardian reports the World is poised to sign climate deal. It’s a watered down climate deal, Bush made sure of that. “Europe was reported tonight to have dropped its demands for a 25%-40% cut on 1990 levels by 2020, a proposal that was bitterly opposed by the US.” According to the AP, “Environmentalists accused the U.S. of trying to wreck future talks… The Europeans and others showed little enthusiasm for this ‘voluntary’ approach, and environmentalists denounced it as an effort to subvert the U.N. climate treaty process.” Europe makes threats, but isn’t prepared to carry through with any of them.

2. Thank you corporate America and your Republican puppets for being so thoroughly short-sighted, contemptible, and detestable. The New York Times reports Industry flexes muscle, weakens energy bill. “Pared-down energy legislation cleared the Senate on Thursday by a wide margin after the oil industry and utilities succeeded in stripping out… a $13 billion tax increase on oil companies and a requirement that utilities nationwide produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources”. Oh and “separately, Congress reached a tentative agreement on a major energy package that it plans to enact outside the energy bill… the agreement would guarantee loans of up to $25 billion for new nuclear plants and $2 billion for a uranium enrichment plant… It would also provide guarantees of… $10 billion for plants to turn coal into liquid vehicle fuel and $2 billion to turn coal into natural gas.” Liquefied coal – the fuel that powered Apartheid and higher greenhouse gas emissions – is an idiotic, expensive, and short-sighted choice.

   Meanwhile our country’s other idiotic ‘energy policy’, Mongabay reports U.S. corn subsidies drive Amazon destruction.

   U.S. corn subsidies for ethanol production are contributing to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, reports a tropical forest scientist writing in this week’s issue of the journal Science.

   Dr. William Laurance, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, says that a recent spike in Amazonian forest fires may be linked to U.S. subsidies that promote American corn production for ethanol over soy production. The shift from soy to corn has led to a near doubling in soy prices during the past 14 months. High prices are, in turn, driving conversion of rainforest and savanna in Brazil for soy expansion.

   “American taxpayers are spending $11 billion a year to subsidize corn producers-and this is having some surprising global consequences,” said Laurance.

3. Our planet’s oceans are doing stunningly bad. According to Nature News, Lice threaten Canada’s salmon. “Lice harboured by farmed fish are killing wild salmon on Canada’s west coast, new work has confirmed. The study shows serious declines in fish populations, which could lead to the total collapse of runs in those rivers in less than a decade… At the current rate of decline, the runs in these rivers will drop to less than 1% of their natural levels in four generations, or eight years, [Fisheries ecologist Martin Krkošek at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and his colleagues] reports in Science.

   The Guardian adds that Acidic seas may kill 98% of world’s reefs by 2050. “The majority of the world’s coral reefs are in danger of being killed off by rising levels of greenhouse gases, scientists warned yesterday. Researchers from Britain, the US and Australia, working with teams from the UN and the World Bank, voiced their concerns after a study revealed 98% of the world’s reef habitats are likely to become too acidic for corals to grow by 2050… Among the first victims of acidifying oceans will be Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest organic structure. The oceans absorb around a third of the 20bn tonnes of carbon dioxide produced each year by human activity. While the process helps to slow global warming by keeping the gas from the atmosphere, in sea water it dissolves to form carbonic acid – rising levels of which cause carbonates to dissolve.”

4. 

   Once again a headline states Ice-free Arctic in summer seen in 7 years. This time it’s the Chicago Tribune reporting that “the pace of melting of sea ice has been ‘dramatic,’ said Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the UN agency, noting that the extent of Arctic summer sea ice has fallen 23 percent in just two years… Preliminary agency data for 2007 suggest this year will be the second hottest year on record, behind 2005, and that the most recent decade will be the hottest in recorded history, he said.” And Reuters basically lays its on the line when it reports, U.S. scientists state Carbon cuts a must to halt warming. “There is already enough carbon in Earth’s atmosphere to ensure that sea levels will rise several feet (meters) in coming decades and summertime ice will vanish from the North Pole, scientists warned on Thursday. To mitigate global warming’s worst effects, including severe drought and flooding, people must not only cut current carbon emissions but also remove some carbon that has collected in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, they said.”

   “We’re a lot closer to climate tipping points than we thought we were,” said James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “If we are to have any chance in avoiding the points of no return, we’re going to have to make some changes.” …

   The concentration of carbon in the atmosphere is now about 380 parts per million and increasing by 2 parts per million each year. To stabilize Earth’s climate, the concentration needs to fall to at least 350 parts per million, Hansen said.