Can you believe we're already several galloping laps into horse race reporting on the 2008 presidential campaign? Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi describes this phenomenon more eloquently than I can (and with more profanity than I would probably dare) here. For anyone already snorting in disgust and tuning out the constant stream of chatter about who's raised more money, who's realigning their image this way or that (with what hunting photo-op or change of hairdo), and who's notched up a point and a half in Iowa polls, Taibbi is spot on: The election, after all, is nearly a full Martian year …

On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency has authority to regulate greenhouse gases as a pollutant (some called it a strong rebuke of the Bush administration's policies), George W. Bush saw fit to ramp up his language on the issue of global warming (hint: the new key word is "serious"): The decision (of) the Supreme Court we take very seriously. It's the new law of the land. I've taken this issue very seriously. I have said that it is a serious problem. I recognize that man is contributing to greenhouse gases. But, despite …

Last week I reported on the wide and growing partisan divide in U.S. public opinion over global warming: self-identified Democrats are 39 percentage points more likely than their Republican counterparts to rate climate change a serious problem. But what puzzled me most was the 13-point drop in concern among Republicans since 1999. Call me naïve, but with all the scientific evidence that's been piling up on the issue -- accompanied by increasing media attention -- I guess I expected slow (though perhaps reluctant) increases in concern all across the political spectrum. Years of rising global temperatures, melting sea ice, and …

Since it came out about a year ago, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's climate change documentary, seems to have pushed the issue into mainstream consciousness. Millions saw the movie itself -- but they were largely true believers anyway. Perhaps more importantly, Gore's Academy Award has earned him a wider audience among the potentially undecided: 39.9 million TV viewers tuned in for the Academy Awards themselves, plus 49 million saw Gore on Oprah. Heck, combined, that's more than the total number of people who voted for George W. Bush in 2006! It's almost as good as being on American Idol. But, …

The old thinking, as author and thinker Bill McKibben explains in today's LA Times, goes like this: bigger is always better, growth is good no matter what, and a booming stock market is the ultimate measure of our success. McKibben illustrates the kind of lopsided priorities that naturally flow when we're ruled by the bottom line, pointing to a scarcely-reported White House report that said the U.S. would be pumping out almost 20 percent more greenhouse gases in 2020 than we did in 2000, our contribution to climate change going steadily up -- against all warnings to the contrary. That's …

A new international poll finds worldwide agreement that climate change is a threat. Opinions are split, however on the nuts and bolts -- in particular, whether to act immediately and whether countermeasures are worth the investment. Even so, a window of opportunity seems to have opened that would allow leaders with bold solutions to spark international cooperation and make real strides. The poll included 17 countries, representing more than 55 percent of the world population (though not all the questions were asked in each of the countries). Western European countries and Canada* were not included. While global opinion trends are …

Our minds have a limited capacity to comprehend really, really big numbers. At least mine does. A million tons of C02 might as well be a zillion. Twelve and a half million dollars spent every hour on the Iraq war might as well be bazillions. Sometimes we try to fathom the enormities of raw numbers by visualizing them. How often have you heard that something stacked on end would extend to the moon and back? But that never helps me. I can't actually comprehend just how many pop cans, or human DNA particles, or safety pins, or Chevy engines or …

Not only is Schwarzenegger leading California to many firsts in climate policy, he's also leading the way when it comes to talking about global warming. Any savvy politician knows you can't get policy on the books without first winning over your colleagues and constituents. And Arnie is surely one of the savviest politicos around. Here's how he's doing it: First, he taps into Californian pride and shared American values, stressing leadership, innovation, and a call to make history: Our innovation, our science, our knowledge, our creativity is unequaled on the face of the earth ... I propose that California be …

When it comes to effective messages, sometimes picture is worth a thousand books by George Lakoff. I'll give you a perfect case of well-intentioned words getting trounced in the marketplace of ideas. You have to see this. Now that you've had a good laugh ... the wolf-friendly sign (on the right) is classic. I went through all kinds of mental gymnastics to eke out a take-home message. Finally it dawned on me that the wolf itself is supposed to be "talking" about sport and survival. But my favorite part by far was the word "ungulates." Say what?! I had to …

Cascadians on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border share a deep connection to our temperate corner of the world. But if national polling data is any indication of regional opinion, we may not necessarily share the same views when it comes to the fate of our piece of the planet -- or even of the planet itself. Public opinion polling in the two countries shows a boundary between perceptions almost as stark as the national border drawn on a political map. In recent polling by Gallup and Pew, Americans display little concern about the environment and global warming -- far …