He gave Mars a new atmosphere;  Can he now save planet Earth?

Given the serious threat of sea level rise to California's water supply, population and our economy, it's critically important that we make sure the state is prepared.

—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed an executive order Friday directing state agencies to study the effects of global warming, even though California is  facing a $28 billion budget shortfall. There has been no appreciable sea level rise and his executive order is based on a recent study's speculation.

Most visibly (at least to me, on this 60 degree November day in New York City) is climate change.

—Brandon Keim, writing in Wired, suggesting that today's warm NYC weather is an example of global warming, which is one of the science-related challenges facing Barack Obama.

New York City Weather:
Historical Average: 57 °F / 13 °C
Record: 78 °F / 25 °C (1961)

H/T to Tom Nelson

In the next two, three decades, it's critical for the survival of human civilisation as we know it.

—Steve Sawyer, head of the Global Wind Energy Council, on the importance of wind power in the survival of the human race. He is also a former Greenpeace CEO who now lobbies for the use of wind to become the leading source of energy.

The only way that I could see the climate system in 50 years time or 100 years time being cooler than at present is if the earth got hit by an asteroid and basically human civilisation was destroyed.

—PROF. DAVID KAROLY, MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY, during an ABC Lateline interview, which interviewed three scientists and a UN official about global warming.

The EU's green vision is an “act of madness.”

—Italian Innovation Minister Renato Brunetta, regarding the EU's 'untenable' plan to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said, 'The package as it stands right now is not suitable…Significant changes are needed.'  [H/T to Tom Nelson ]

We are making some of the most expensive global decisions ever, on the basis of "computerised tinker toys with which one can construct any outcome he chooses."

—Atmospheric physicist James Peden, on climate computer models and how major decisions are based on them. They have been shown to be highly fallible depending on which data you input and the output you seek. H/T to CO2 Sceptics.