As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the unprecedented with the improbable. In our everyday experience, if something has never happened before, we are generally safe in assuming it is not going to happen in the future, but the exceptions can kill you and climate change is one of those exceptions.

It's not unusual to find big political shifts that take place beneath the surface before they're visible above the surface.

There are many who still do not believe that global warming is a problem at all. And it's no wonder: because they are the targets of a massive and well-organized campaign of disinformation lavishly funded by polluters who are determined to prevent any action to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming out of a fear that their profits might be affected if they had to stop dumping so much pollution into the atmosphere.

The golden thread of reason that used to be stretched taut to mark the boundary between the known and the unknown is now routinely disrespected.

I see myself in the mold of Rin Tin Tin. It didn't go to his head either.

We sometimes emphasize the danger in a crisis without focusing on the opportunities that are there.

Local and state governments have outrun the federal government. The EPA has served notice that it will enact a rule requiring CO2 reductions by major emitters in the absence of major legislation. But it's a blunt instrument that is a little more difficult to use than a legislative remedy.