We cannot afford to put off change any longer. We have to get on a new path within this new administration. We have only four years left for Obama to set an example to the rest of the world. America must take the lead.

Coral reefs, the rain forest of the ocean, are home for one-third of the species of the sea. Coral reefs are under stress for several reasons, including warming of the ocean, but especially because of ocean acidification, a direct effect of added carbon dioxide. Ocean life dependent on carbonate shells and skeletons is threatened by dissolution as the ocean becomes more acid.

Interference with communications of science to the public has been greater during the current administration than at any time in my career.

Until the public demands otherwise, the policy makers will continue to serve their financiers.

What has become clear from the science is that we cannot burn all of the fossil fuels without creating a very different planet.

Only in the last few years did the science crystallize, revealing the urgency - our planet really is in peril. If we do not change course soon, we will hand our children a situation that is out of their control.

The five-year mean global temperature has been flat for the last decade