Madness

According to the New Scientist's review of Storms of my grandchildren, James Hansen believes that the threat posed by climate change:

...is far worse than [I] thought even a few years ago. The very survival of life on Earth is at stake.... "Your governments are lying through their teeth", he says. [T]he Kyoto protocol is a dismal failure, and its proposed successors, along with the cap-and-trade schemes favoured by [US] President Barack Obama, have no chance of achieving what is needed either. Earth on the brink, 'New Scientist', 12 December 2009

James Hansen and I agree that our political system is incapable of acting effectively because politicians serve the short-term interests of special interest groups with plenty of money to throw around, rather than the long-term welfare of citizens. It's madness.