James Hansen gives us one year to change.

Again a wide gap has developed between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known by policymakers and the public. Now, as then, frank assessment of scientific data yields conclusions that are shocking to the body politic. Now, as then, I can assert that these conclusions have a certainty exceeding 99 percent. The difference is that now we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed to defuse the global warming time bomb…

Otherwise it will become impractical to constrain atmospheric carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas produced in burning fossil fuels, to a level that prevents the climate system from passing tipping points that lead to disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity’s control…

I argue that a path yielding energy independence and a healthier environment is, barely, still possible. It requires a transformative change of direction in Washington in the next year…

Climate is nearing dangerous tipping points. Elements of a “perfect storm”, a global cataclysm, are assembled.

I don’t think markets are the best answer to most — much less every — policy questions. But markets can work very fast. New markets, products and services are created every year and some of them mange to change the world. WalMart is the biggest employer in the world and Google was just a small California internet company a few years ago. The only things that can give a state the speed of markets are disasters (man made, preferably) or fascist governments.

Neither option is particularly appealing.