In a November 17th video presentation to a climate change conference organized by California's governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, President-elect Barack Obama pledged not to back off his campaign vow to invest $150 billion in new energy-saving technologies and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Faced by objections that these initiatives would exacerbate the current economic crisis, Obama pushed back hard, arguing that his climate change initiatives would create jobs and reduce reliance on foreign oil.

His statement was especially heartening for the climate change community because it was only Obama's second significant policy statement since becoming President-elect, suggesting how seriously he takes the danger.

For eight years under President Bush, the climate change community has stood by helplessly as the federal government squelched the science and stymied meaningful action. If there was ever any doubt that the foot-dragging would end in an Obama presidency, that is the case no longer. Obama's's speech erased any lingering doubts that global warming will be a keystone issue  for Obama—and that a green New Deal, whatever name it goes by, awaits us just around the corner (soon after January 20th).

Call it climate change action you can believe in.