Earth that was

I felt a little spurt of hope for the planet when I read an introduction to The Presidential Climate Action Project. Sixty leading scientists, including a former NASA director, have compiled a 100-day plan to reverse global warming, to be implemented in 2009. It appears to be a real, considered response to the urgency of climate change, and its members assert that it's nonpartisan, to be put in the hands of whoever our new leader may be.

I had that old Star Trek feeling--you know, the one where Earth actually survives, where humans work together to solve problems, and have the wherewithal to explore new frontiers, where no one has gone before?

For example:

Government's Atmospheric Trust Responsibility

An Essay by Mary Christina Wood

In this essay, Professor Wood presents a framework for holding government at all levels responsible for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. She draws upon the Target for U.S. Emissions Reductions recently released by scientists to contend that government has a duty to cap emissions by 2010, reduce emissions by 4% annually thereafter, and ultimately bring emissions down to at least 80% below 2000 levels by 2050. As she explains, there can be no "orphan shares" in meeting this planetary carbon liability. She explains that government has the tools to accomplish this, and as a sovereign trustee of our atmosphere, has the obligation to do so.

And here's the site:http://www.climateactionproject.com/

Please, no one burst my bubble. It feels so good to have this optimistic moment. I love FIREFLY, but the idea of a vanished Earth is just too sad.