Having just returned to the U.S. from the UN climate negotiations in Cancun, it is apparent to me that the most important work remains to be done right here at home.

The science of climate change tells us that we can wait no longer to take real action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if we are to avoid the most calamitous consequences of global warming, but for the politicians and the American public the issue barely registers as we wrestle with an enduring economic downturn.

The signs of climate change are everywhere if one just pauses to look around or to read the scientific reports that grow more alarming by the day. One has to wonder how Sarah Palin can get away with denying climate change when her home state is already experiencing the consequences. Native Alaskans are seeing their fishing villages swallowed up by the sea with the loss of the sea ice that had protected these communities for hundreds if not thousands of years.