From History & Policy, an essay on facing the challenge of climate change: energy efficiency and energy consumption. Climate and human history: The first chapter from Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate by William F. Ruddiman. Let's not shoot the climate messenger: The press is accused of painting such a bleak picture of the planet's prospects readers believe nothing can be done. Google.org director Larry Brilliant on the case for global warming optimism. Real analysis has to distinguish those factors that will change in response to market forces and policy from the long-term, largely immutable, physical realities: We need political will to fight climate change. A look at why even a desperate measure of geo-engineering is starting to look reasonable. From Swans, whither Green Utopias: Journey to the past or visions of future? Into the "Wild": How a film and an essay reflect our changed ideas about nature.
