Fewer Americans Believe in Global Warming

And it's in danger of happening again

(NEWSER) - Scientists have discovered that the Dead Sea pretty much vanished 120,000 years ago when the earth was as warm, or slightly warmer, than it is today, reports the BBC . It's in danger of doing the same today, this time helped along by populated areas taking the water that would normally flow into it. This could lead to momentous problems, as those Mideast populations rely on the salt lake for agriculture, fertilizer, and salt manufacturing. More»

More than half of activists don't foresee a warming problem—ever

(NEWSER) - The Tea Party movement is highly skeptical of the threat posed by—and, in some cases, the existence of—global warming, finds a New York Times /CBS poll. Just 14% of Tea Partiers believe warming is currently taking effect, as opposed to 49% of the rest of Americans. More than 50% of the movement doesn’t think global warming will ever pose serious danger. More»

It's as politically inconvenient as ever, but Senate must pass true cap

(NEWSER) - Wouldn't it be great if you woke up this morning, opened the newspaper, and read all about how climate-change deniers were right all along? Al Gore thinks so, but instead, you'll find his op-ed piece in the Times, warning that while climate deniers might've gotten a chuckle over leaked emails, the overwhelming majority of science supports the fact that global warming is more perilous than ever—and just as inconvenient. More»

Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham are crafting an alternative

(NEWSER) - So long, cap-and-trade. The idea is all but dead in the Senate, with Joe Lieberman, John Kerry, and Lindsey Graham working on what the Washington Post calls a "radical, behind-the-scenes overhaul" of the bill to curb greenhouse gases. It's expected to be unveiled next month. Though cap-and-trade has passed the House and been the main legislative approach for a decade, it simply has too many political and corporate opponents to survive in the Senate, write Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson. More»

President's miscalculations include scale, momentum

(NEWSER) - Scott Brown’s Senate victory in Massachusetts is the final nail in the coffin of the Obama administration’s first-year political strategy, John F. Harris and Carol E. Lee write for Politico . The miscalculations cover “three major counts":

• Believing 2008 was a game-changer: The Obama team thought the "election represented something seismic." But "the assumption that Obama would be swimming mostly with the current rather than often against it on issues such as health care, financial regulation and global warming was naive in retrospect."