Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of the awesome “Field Notes from a Catastrophe”.  Her article on Obama’s impending decision on allowing a tar sands pipeline to be built is short and bittersweet and essential reading.

Mauna Loa is the observatory in Hawaii where – far from point sources of carbon that would cause bad sampling – the boffins have been charting the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide since 1958. Species be crazy. What can you do?