Arctic Sea Ice/NOAA

“Fortunately, the public is beginning to catch on to the truth,” Dr. Hansen tells PLANET.

Daily weather forecasts have very likely been a factor in convincing more people of the urgency of the matter. A recent Duke University poll found that 50% of respondents say it is definitely happening and an additional 35% call it probable.

According to McKibben, “The polling data is clear that the number of Americans concerned about climate change has spiked dramatically in the last two years — which is what one might expect after the hottest year in American history [2012] and one of the biggest storms ever to hit the East Coast [Sandy].” As co-founder of the grassroots organization 350.org, whose express purpose is to bring CO2 concentrations back below 350 parts per million, he tells PLANET that he was pleased by the attention that the nation’s media paid to the 400 ppm reading, in contrast to what he describes as an earlier failure to notice such trends.

The recent news (maybe coupled with a second election victory) has forced the hand of President Obama, who rolled up his shirtsleeves and matted his sweaty brow for an outdoor speech at Georgetown University last month to announce that he would be using his executive powers to work toward a reduction of harmful emissions from American power plants. It was the kind of speech that concerned citizens were waiting to hear.