Richard Bell

One of the most successful performance artists of the 21st century has returned to the stage—and we’re not talking about Lady Gaga here.

Instead, I draw your attention to Bjorn Lomborg, who has just unleashed a dramatic reverse back-flip of his stance on global warming that may very well restore him, at least briefly, to the heights of the media firmament he first enjoyed in 2001, when he announced his apostasy from his (alleged) environmental roots with the publication of the global best-seller, The Skeptical Environmentalist.

The highest level investigation of global warming in the history of the U.S. Congress began Wednesday morning when Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), chairman of the brand-spanking new House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, banged down the gavel. [Excerpts]

But if you want to go on living on the planet Earth, then you’d better learn how to love sequestration. Because if sequestration doesn’t work, the planet is toast. (Excerpts from coverage of Senate hearing)

Why should the United States, members of Congress asked, take any action on climate change when China and India weren’t doing anything about their CO2 emissions? One witness compared their attitude to the childhood lament, “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I’m going to go and eat some worms.”

The debate that is taking place in the Congress is truly an historical debate: it is a rare debate indeed when it can truly be said that the future of the entire planet turns on the outcome of that debate. [excerpts]

Climate report author Sir Nicholas Stern lays down the law at a U.S. Senate hearing: the costs of inaction on climate change will be far higher than the costs of acting today. No more excuses.