The Kyoto Protocol took effect today.  One small step toward the reforms that are needed to avoid disaster in the coming decades.

From the Associated Press:

"We have been calling on the United States to join. But the country that is the world's biggest emitter has not joined yet, and that is regrettable," Japan's top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, told reporters.

In case you are interested, the global temperature for 2004 averaged 0.97° Fahrenheit (O.54°C) above the 1880-2003 average.  2004 was the 4th warmest year on record.  Here is more information.