Back in the days when Congress acted responsibly toward the environment, it passed the Clean Air Act to protect all American's health and safety.

Since that day, almost all of the early heroes of the environment have either died off or left Congress. However, the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts that Senator Ed Musky, Senator Richard Schweiker and so many other lawmakers wrote in 1970 and 1972 respectively, still stand as a vital legal frameworks for protecting our health and children's future.

Ignoring the mandates under the Clean Air Act, EPA failed to take steps to cut CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions to stop global warming when it became apparent that man-made pollution is causing global warming. Recently, a coalition of a dozen states, cities and environmental groups lead by Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly (D) successfully filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to overturn a pair of divergent rulings in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that the Clean Air Act does not require EPA to regulate greenhouse gases.

The US Supreme Court has now taken up the question of whether U.S. EPA failed in its duties to regulate a harmful pollutant under the Clean Air Act when it opted not to regulate the ubiquitious heat-trapping greenhouse gases from new cars and trucks.

I must say that I am not optimistic.

This court has demonstrated that it does not even attempt to understand the environment or to appreciate its beneficial role in protecting America's health and safety. I also fear that neo-conservative ideology over the environment trumps sound judgement in the case of several appointments to the court.

The recent Supreme Court decision concerning the (section 404) wetlands provisions of the Clean Water Act is a case in point. The high court has substantially weakened our ability to protect wetlands from the developers. Wetlands serve as critical filtration systems for our nation's surface waters and vital recharge areas for ground water systems all over America. The court decision is a little like saying, since you have a strong heart, you don't need kidneys.

The Congress that framed the Clean Water Act understood the connections between protected wetlands and the purity of National waters. Former Senator Richard Schweiker (R) PA. for example, signed our amicus brief to the high court as a demonstration of legislative intent. Schweiker voted for the law when it was passed and fully understood why wetland protection was important. As Ronald Reagan’s vice-presidential running mate in 1976 and Reagan's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary Schweiker understands that you can not have clean water without protected wetlands. Ignoring the wisdom of this great Republican servant, the Supreme Court apparently can not see the connections, even when they are so obvious.

I fear that the majority of Judges in the highest court in this land don't get it when it comes to protecting America's future from global warming. For the sake of our offspring, I hope I am wrong. 

We will have to wait and see.

In his State of the Union speech, President Bush finally admitted that America is addicted to oil. He is partly right. Actually, we are addicted to fossil fuels, which include natural gas and coal as well. That addiction leads to a dangerous buildup of greenhouse gas pollution in our atmosphere, threatens our national security, weakens our economy and jeopardizes our children's future.

Few Americans and frighteningly few Washington political leaders comprehend how very little time we have left to act before we lose control of global warming. Neither major political party has set global warming as a priority. Within our children's lifetime the planet, under current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, will hit a tipping point that can trigger runaway global warming.

The Arctic has already lost 40 percent of its ice by volume, 20 percent by surface, drastically increasing absorption of solar heat up north as sunlight-reflecting ice vanishes. The region has warmed 5 degrees F, largely a result of retreating ice. Greenland's glaciers are sliding toward the sea and calving twice as fast as they did 5 years ago. A study published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Science reported that 87 percent of 244 Antarctic Peninsula glaciers have retreated during the past 50 years.

Russian scientists warn that 70 to 80 billion tons of methane and other carbon compounds, with 20 times carbon dioxide's heat trapping capacity per molecule, may soon escape into the atmosphere as permafrost thaws in Siberia. This release could trigger catastrophic increases in global warming.

All over the world, insects are killing millions of acres of forest because winter freeze no longer occurs to slow the insects. In the United States, native bark beetles are striking millions of trees, yielding unprecedented forest diebacks.

Based on such changes, leading scientists are issuing warnings that we now have less than 10 years to curb carbon dioxide emissions. James Hansen of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has warned that if we do not get a grip on this threat, we will create a fundamentally "different planet."

Little wonder. We have embarked on a massive planetary experiment outside the range of human experience, putting nearly a trillion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the past 150 years, raising atmospheric CO2 levels by more than 36 percent.

The good news is that we still have time to act to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis-if we act now. By tackling global warming pollution, entrepreneurs, investors, farmers and laborers will all prosper. You can help by urging lawmakers to make global warming an urgent priority. Ask them to adopt thoughtful programs and solutions, such as:

• 25 X '25, an agricultural strategy to derive 25 percent of U.S. energy from farms by 2025 through use of advanced biofuels and other renewable energy sources;
• The 2030 Plan, a carbon-neutral standard for designing and retrofitting buildings, supported by the American Institute of Architecture and the Conference of Mayors, to be implemented by 2030;
• Updated motor vehicle fuel-efficiency standards that apply to all classes of vehicles to reduce gasoline consumption;
• Standards to ensure that all new electric power plants cut carbon dioxide emissions at least 80 percent below other plants;
• Cap-and-trade programs that stimulate innovation and least-cost carbon-reduction solutions; and
• Tax code reforms that provide incentives for private capital investment in energy innovation, efficiency and conservation.

Collectively, some combination of these actions could be fashioned into a rational national energy policy that cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 2 percent of current emissions in each of the next 40 years to meet the CO2-reduction goal for which most published climate scientists are calling.

Congress will not move on global warming until America moves on global warming. When the people lead, political "leaders" follow. You need to lead in your community.

By: Larry Schweiger