The fact is fossil fuel carbon will stay in the surface climate system for millennia.

Imagine a giant asteroid on a direct collision course with Earth. That is the equivalent of what we face now with climate change, yet we dither.

The five warmest years over the last century occurred in the last eight years.

What we are doing to the future of our children, and the other species on the planet, is a clear moral issue.

Global warming has already triggered a sea level rise that could reach from 6 metres (19.69 ft) to 25 metres (27.34 yards).

I was lucky to grow up at a time when it was not difficult for the child of a tenant farmer to make his way to the state university.

The most difficult task, phase-out over the next 20-25 years of coal use that does not capture CO₂, is Herculean, yet feasible when compared with the efforts that went into World War II. The stakes, for all life on the planet, surpass those of any previous crisis. The greatest danger is continued ignorance and denial, which could make tragic consequences unavoidable.