Climate: sadness and frustration

Is there anything sadder than the regular news about changes in our climate?  The natural world is no longer natural.  Our actions, especially pumping the atmosphere full of CO2 from cars and power plants, have, to say the least, badly disrupted things.  And recent findings of the National Climate Assessment tell us it will get worse.  More glaciers melting, higher sea levels, more droughts, more torrential rains and flooding.

Is there anything more frustrating and disheartening that the collective failure to stop this?  Certainly, the President is now using regulatory authorities under existing legislation to reduce CO2 emissions.  But there are limits to how much he can accomplish this way and no one expects any new authority from the Congress.  Meanwhile, opponents of climate action cry that these regulations are “a war on coal” and promise opposition in every way possible.

Can we hope that reports like this, along with regular news of climatic disasters (we can’t call them “natural disasters” anymore), will change public views and be translated into political action?
We can only hope — and push wherever we can.