Photo: Shruti Shrestha -- A woman wears compact fluorescent light bulbs during a protest rally in Kathmandu demanding alternative sources of energy March 11, 2010. Nepal's government is announcing 13 hours of power cut a day from today due to the low water levels in the hydro electric dams.

“The head of U.S. EPA’s research division on Wednesday defended the science used in the agency’s pending climate regulations to skeptical GOP lawmakers. “The overwhelming science that this finding is relied on is solvent and reliable,” Paul Anastas, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development, told the House Science and Technology Committee. (E&E Daily, 03/11/2010)

Things are really heating up with the politics of global warming lately, with much pressure being put on tired politicians who seem to want to pass health care and then go on vacation. Fortunately, scientists are urging the need to act. Scientists, including Steven Chu (see post below)  are strongly urging Congress to pass meaningful legislation this year that will begin to address the climate crisis. American politicians have been spending most of their time fighting for health care reform in the U.S., but that battle should be over in a week or less. Then they need to tackle climate change, no matter how tired and weary our representatives claim they are, and they need to hear from us on this extremely important topic.  That means call them!  (They get paid enough to work hard, and maybe they need to be reminded of that.) From USATODAY:

“Eight Nobel-prize winning economists and scientists have joined more than 2,000 others in signing a letter today that urges the Senate to take swift action on climate change.

“The longer we wait, the harder and more costly it will be to limit climate change and to adapt to those impacts that will not be avoided,” reads the letter, which is available on the Union of Concerned Scientists’ website here. ”Many emissions reduction strategies can be adopted today that would save consumers and industry money while providing benefits for air quality, energy security, public health, balance of trade, and employment.”

The renewed effort to focus attention on the issue comes after a difficult few months for advocates who want Congress to pass legislation to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. First, there was the “climate-gate” scandal, in which hundreds of e-mails from climate scientists were posted on-line — including some that questioned just how fast the earth’s temperature is rising. . . . . .

At one point last year, climate change legislation had been queued up behind health care in the list of priorities for congressional Democrats. The House narrowly passed so-called cap-and-trade legislation in June that would have taxed carbon emissions. But the Senate never embraced the approach. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who has been a lead negotiator on the issue, has said lawmakers are pursuing a new bill that would instead focus on utility companies.”

Senators John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham are [...]