I was struck by President Bush's comment in the State of the Union address on Monday that the United States should complete an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives no free rides. That sounds right...

Contrast this with the dismay of U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab at the announcement by European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso that new European Union climate legislation could require exporters in countries with weak or nonexistent climate policies to buy EU pollution permits if they wish to trade within the European Union.

Isn't this a double standard? If the White House will only enter an international climate agreement if everyone comes along, then shouldnt they in turn be willing to come along or pay for the carbon offset when others have established effective climate policies?

If trade policies are not used as tools to drive responsible action by every emitting nation, how can we achieve what the President says he wants?

Ready for largest nationwide climate teach-in history?   Tonight at 8 pm Eastern time, National Wildlife Federation will launch Focus the Nation with an orientation and kickoff 2% Solutions Web Cast produced with www.EarthDayTV.net and University of Central Florida.

Tune at 8 pm Eastern, 5 pm Pacific at www.EarthDayTV.net

Tomorrow January 31, almost 1,800 colleges and universities from all 50 states will participate in Focus the Nation – an unprecedented teach-in on solutions to global warming that will simultaneously educate and energize close to 1 million young adults. Focus the Nation will be the largest teach-in in U.S. history, galvanizing an inter-generational partnership for the first time since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Here is the list of participating schools: www.focusthenation.org/teamlist.php

You can look in your state/area for January 31 events.

The climate crisis will be one of the biggest challenges facing the next president. But the top Sunday hosts don't seem to think so.

In 2007, they asked the presidential candidates a total of 2,275 questions, but only three mentioned global warming.

Our friends at League of Conservation Voters compiled all the facts in a video. Watch it and sign the petition urging the Sunday talk show hosts to focus on the human race, not just the political race.

Some time back, I wrote about a young Alaskian scientist Dr. Katey Walter who has been doing some very important research concerning the formation and leakage of methane from ponds and lakes in the once frozen permafrost regions of Siberia and Alaska.

Since methane molecules are 23 times more powerful as a heat-trapping molecules than carbon dioxide, scientists have long feared that melting tundra may yield increasing methane emissions from natural sinks of carbon, exacerbating global warming. 

As the northern landscapes warm, permafrost thaws, creating vast areas of ponds and lakes scattered throughout once frozen landscapes.  Under warming water, certain bacteria decompose the stored carbon and release methane. 

Katey's work shows that methane leakage rates are five times greater than anyone had previously projected.  Her findings are a strong warning that methane leaking from the thawing North country is a dangerous feedback to our fragile climate system.

National Public Radio did a thorough report on her work that includes a startling video of methane bubbling from a study lake.  To see it, visit:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14288215

"60 Minutes" did a great piece on forest fires in America’s West: The Age of Mega-Fires – Warming Climate Fuels Mega-Fires.

This informative and disturbing segment highlights that due to a warming climate, the fire season is 78 days longer on average than it was 15 or 20 years ago. And forest infernos up to ten times bigger than we’re used to seeing are becoming more common.

If global warming continues, we could continue to get large scale fires that could wipe out half of the forests in the West. And in 2006, the federal government spent $2 billion on fire fighting, seven times more than ten years ago.

Says Tom Boatner, chief of federal government’s fire operations: "…we’re dealing with a period of climate, in terms of temperature and humidity and drought that’s different than anything people have seen in our lifetimes."

Read more and see the video at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/18/60minutes/main3380176.shtml