If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck …

Andy Revkin, NYT’s climate reporter, brings news of a just-released federal study on climate change which shows “clear evidence of human influences on the climate system.”

For a moment I’m shouting, “All right! We’re moving past debate and into problem solving.”

But … not to be undone by their own research conclusions, policy officials note that “while the new finding was important, the administration’s policy remained focused on studying the remaining questions and using voluntary means to slow the growth in emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide.”

There’s also this:

Dr. Christy [one of the study’s authors] also said that even given what the models projected, it would be impossible to slow warming noticeably in the coming decades. Countries would be wise to seek ways to adapt to warming, he added, even as they seek new sources of energy that do not emit heat-trapping gases.

So, we simultaneously resist admitting this is a big problem and jump right past prevention to adaptation.

I’m guessing this report will spark some change, and it does knock another leg out from the feds’ already tottering chair of denial. But it still amazes me that it’s so incredibly difficult for us to deal with the problem squarely.