WARMING  (CONT)

carbon emissions by 10 percent below 1990 levels without obvious economic hardship.

Such developments fit a well-worn script, says Eileen Claussen, the head of the Pew Center and a 30-year veteran of environmental-policy struggles. "It's always the same," she sighs. "First the other side says the problem is not a problem. Then they concede it's a small problem. Then they claim it's too expensive to solve. Then they get on with it and make a deal." It's time, she says, "to start dealing."

Trees, of course, don't follow such debates. The oak planted in that hole so many years ago is now just a teenager, still nowhere near the size of the redwood a grumbling congressman once envisioned. But its annual rings continue to record the passage of time and changes in climate. The question is whether that arboreal history will ultimately document the moment when political leaders took action to cool the earth, or mark our failure to confront one of the planet's biggest threats.

David Malakoff is a correspondent for Science magazine.

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