Nice timing, Robert: Even as the New York Times acknowledges a puzzling "warming plateau", Redford tries to convince us that "Climate change is happening fast...Our weather is out of whack"

Robert Redford stars in ad calling on Obama to move faster on curbing global warming

A major national environmental group has enlisted legendary movie star Robert Redford in its effort to pressure President Obama to move quickly to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

The Natural Resources Defense Council will air ads on television, online and in social media outlets in which Redford, an NRDC trustee and longtime environmental activist, urges Obama to have “the courage of his convictions.”

“Climate change is happening fast,” Redford says in the ad, which will run on both broadcast and cable stations in Washington.

Natural disasters not odd coincidences: June 10, 2013 - Column

[Robert Redford] Today, we can no longer put off a presidential response to the increasing chaos in our climate. Our weather is out of whack. Climate change is happening, and fast.

It's heartbreaking to see destructive forces hit families, farmers, business owners and communities across our country. It's frustrating as the costs pile up to see next to nothing in response from Capitol Hill. And it's ominous as the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere passes 400 parts per million – levels that haven't been experienced in 3 million years, long before even cavemen walked the Earth.

Pouring more carbon pollution into the sky is setting the table for growing intensity of extreme weather, with more persistent drought, devastating wildfires, costly floods, scorching summers and storms that punish more with each punch.