The mainstream media remains behind the times on this issue. However, they are beginning to come around. The Economist has a good couple articles in their latest issue that support action on climate change:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15720419
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15719298
Not bad for a center-right magazine that 10 years ago loved describing GW 'alarmists' as leftist kooks.

And economist Paul Krugman is educating people on the economics of environmental action wrt climate change:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/magazine/11Economy-t.html?pagewanted=1

Unfortunately, the forces of darkness are as strong as ever. Germany's Der Spiegel does a hatchet job on climatologists (especially everybodies punching-bag-du-jour Phil Jones) in
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,686697,00.html

(realclimate.org does a good job of debunking the Der Spiegel's character assassination job in
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/04/climate-scientist-bashing/#more-3690 )

We all are in deadly terrible trouble from carbon harms.
Rouse together and stop burning of coal for hell power charms.
Or suffer the consequences of even more carbonated water and air.
Acid and heat, floods and drought, growing evermore our despair.
Loving earths coal is a dirty slow evil death, not a clean affair.

In light of the recent earthquakes and volcanic eruption in Iceland, I respectfully reiterate my (if there are others, I haven't seen them) theory that:

We are very near the top of an Inter-glacial warm period.

The change in location of water mass as high latitude land-borne ice melts and spreads progressively to the earth's equatorial bulge, and the slower rebounding of unburdened mantle, change the forces of torque and momentum on the tectonic plates. This results in seismic activity which produces undersea volcanism (adds heat to oceans), tsunamis (may loose CH4 sequestered on the ocean floor), and, so far, a couple volcanoes (add heat, but also shade from dust/ash).

The net result is that we are not waiting for a long-term, steady temperature rise from GHG-induced solar gain to bring us whatever havoc the hydrologic cycle will go through at the top end of this interglacial warming period. We face a rapid build-up of temperature which will stoke the atmosphere and oceans with the energy and water vapor sufficient to trigger (tipping pt) the massive storms which must replace the water mass to the upper latitudes as ice/snow. (In turn, disturbing the balance of forces on the tectonic plates. The earth is indeed in for a rough ride, as McKibben says.)

This theory describes a mechanical clockwork that has defined climate change over the last 650ky. The difference this time is that humans have super-charged the process with massive burning of mined and drilled hydrocarbons.

Nice to know, but what to do?

The above, along with secondary and unknown effects, will create survival situations for most humans. Societal and economic systems larger than regional will become inoperative, as they are the most fragile of human efforts. So, it seems that we should break up the mono-cultural and global to build self-sustaining regional and local islands based on lowtech, alternative and diverse shelter, food, energy and security. We may be backed up (advanced?) to the modes of existence of some of the First Nations within a generation of the tipping point.

Sounds scary, but, I'm not into scaring people. We are on a small ship, and, like Gemini Control telling astronaut Glenn that his heat shield was questionable, WE MUST BE MADE AWARE OF THE CONDITION OF OUR SHIP.

Top-down efforts are ineffective because they are primarily concerned with protecting the status quo. Grass-roots efforts are the most effective because the changes that we can make consist of essentially the same activities that result in successful survival on the local/regional level. It's a shame so many societal resources are squandered on the top-down approach and other useless activities (war, golf, etc ;-) It seems odd that the nations of the Northern Hemisphere are not more focused in their efforts to meet this challenge.

My sources include USGS, NWS, National Geographic, IPCC/Gore; Drury, Chapman, etal; P. Ward, J Lovelock, J G Speth, J Hansen, Mc K, of course, to name a few. Other and additional aspects of the scenario I've posted in these pages over the last three years. I welcome your comments and any info you may have.

We are all children of the last Iceage...the hope is that we have not juiced this cycle fatally out of natural limits by our ignorance and poor choices.