Watch Trailer for Showtime's Global Warming Series "Years of Living Dangerously"

Here's the trailer for Showtime's upcoming documentary series on the impacts of climate change, executive produced by James Cameron & Arnold Schwarzenegger, called Years of Living Dangerously:

TGM on CleanSkies.TV: The Governator's Global Climate Summit

The Green Miles will be on CleanSkies.TV this morning at 9am talking about California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bipartisan Global Climate Summit. You can watch it live at 9am or later by clicking on "Interactive Program Guide," then clicking on the 11/19/08 edition of "The Energy Report."

Putting the "Conserve" Back in "Conservativism"

Last week I worried that the Florida Summit on Climate Change might be more hot air than real action. Turns out that action was clear and decisive:

The silver-haired governor of Florida stood arm-in-arm Friday with the silver-screen governor of California, joked about being recast in Twins, and then -- as the cameras rolled -- signed a groundbreaking set of environmental protection orders.

Gov. Charlie Crist described the mandates as a framework for a new, more future-friendly way of living and conducting business in Florida.

''State government is leading by example,'' he said. ``It is the right thing to do.''

It also is a popular thing to do. Symbolizing the new star power of environmentalism, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger joined Crist at the signing ceremony after delivering a variation of his trademark line: "'We have to say `Hasta la vista, baby' to greenhouse gases.''

Among the components of Crist's plan, long on goals though short on specifics: Tough new pollution standards for automobiles; a strong regulatory push for solar and wind energy; state vehicles powered by biofuel -- all contributing to sharply reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2017, with deeper cuts by 2025 and even more by 2050.

Word of the executive orders leaked out in the days leading up to the conference, so the summit's tone went from "what will Crist do" to "Crist has acted, now what will DC do?" Considering Republicans are stonewalling action in Congress and President Bush is threatening to veto every positive piece of energy/environment legislation that comes within 100 yards of his desk, it was really amazing to see two Republican governors taking the lead on state global warming action.

But as Gov. Schwarzenegger said, our best conservationist president was Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican. Some how the "conserve" in "conservativism" got switched from preserving nature to preserving the profits of fossil fuel providers.

Is your member of Congress a cosponsor of legislation to fight global warming? Find out here!

Florida Governor's Climate Change Summit: Real Action or Hot Air?

It's Tuesday night at 7:27pm and I'm sitting in National Airport waiting for my 5:40pm flight, which has been delayed until 10pm. A laptop and wireless internet is making the wait bearable, but if they cancel this puppy at 9:30pm, I'm gonna be pissed.

I guess it could be worse. See the depressed-looking guy across from me? I overheard him say he'd been trapped in the laptop pen since 2pm. Ouch.

I'm heading down to Miami for Governor Charlie Crist's Summit on Climate Change. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will also be there, along with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Theodore Roosevelt IV.

Surprising that two Republican governors would get together for a climate change summit, huh? But Florida and California are two of the states most at risk to be impacted by global warming. Florida could be devastated by rising seas and stronger hurricanes, while California's already-bad problems with floods, droughts, and wildfires could get even worse.

Will Crist and Schwarzenegger commit to take concrete steps towards addressing global warming? I don't get the impression that they'd put on this whole summit before the eyes of the environmental world just to talk. I'll let you know how it goes!

Temperatures Rising, Climate Knowledge Dropping

And the records just keep falling -- 2006 was the warmest year ever recorded in the United States.

That news comes as the Bush administration's scientifically dubious missions to the Moon and Mars force NASA to slash its earth sciences budget, as another agency struggles in its climate analysis. According to the Washington Post, "As a result, the [National Academy of Sciences] panel said, the United States will not have the scientific information it needs in the years ahead to analyze severe storms and changes in Earth's climate unless programs are restored and funding made available."

But there's good news from California, where Gov. Schwarzenegger continues to show some of the strongest (no pun intended) leadership in the country on climate change issues, telling gas producers to cut their product's carbon emissions by 10 percent. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers defended its inaction by saying, "Currently there are more than nine million alternative-fuel automobiles on the road." Yes, since roughly three perfect of the cars on America's roads are flexfuel cars that are capable of using alternative fuels (but usually don't), that absolves the car & fuel industries of any additional need for change. Right.