NASA’s James Hansen and a few of his colleagues released their assessment of 2011 global temperatures recently. In short, 2011 was the 9th warmest year in the GISS dataset. After accounting for La Nina effects, it is the assessment of an overwhelming majority of climate scientists that global warming has not stopped.

Bill McKibben is one of the most effective and widely-respected writers on environmental issues today. Starting with The End of Nature in 1989, he’s written and published a long line of powerful works that make complex environmental issues accessible to a general audience.

Progressives’ concerns about the climate crisis typically bring our gaze to the north – struggling polar bears and melting ice caps. But in Tropic of Chaos, Christian Parenti makes the case that we’re missing the real story to the south – where our addiction to dirty fuels is introducing a new level of disorder in places that are already struggling and unstable.

Welcome to “under the bus,” environmentalists and eco-conscious Eaarth citizens. We gays have decorated it quite festively, and our Latino and other immigrant communities have added their own touches as well. We’ve all been thrown under here, sacrificed to the highest goal: Obama’s re-election.

While I’m pleased to see Michael wants to welcome Jane Hamsher and other progressives to the Sierra Club under his watch, I’m waiting for Michael to do what any good host does before he throws a housewarming party: clean the house.

The situation is dire. How can we communicate this more forcefully? There are many serious issues out there, from FISA to Flooding, gas prices to gotcha politics. Yet, every moment that passes, we are pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere and we’ve crossed the line of atmospheric levels able to sustain viable, progressive modern society. 350 ppm or bust … Spread the word!