Featured Guest Writer Chris Mooney The Courthouse Effect

Global warming can't seem to stay out of the news lately. Whether it's because of Al Gore's new movie, newly released reports from the National Academy of Sciences, or newly uttered flubs by our president, the subject has been everywhere. It's tempting to think that some critical mass is building--that the way we talk and think about this issue may forever change because of all the current attention and increased public awareness. On the other hand, the history of the global warming debate in the United States shows that there have been longstanding cycles of attention followed by inattention followed by attention again. Perhaps we're just in another attentive period at the moment.