The cold weather finally came in this week. It's been unseasonably warm in western Massachusetts, where I live. It just didn't feel natural with the cloying warm wind blowing about heaps of yellowed leaves on the ground-another local sign of the climate crisis.

But although the evidence of global warming's increasing impact can be found everywhere in the news, the climate crisis is still only on the margins of the radar screen of most Americans. In fact, it's getting pushed even more to the side. The Pew Research Center reported earlier this year that the number of Americans who believe the Earth is warming has dropped.

One reason is that big media is still not connecting the dots. This week, wildfires were raging in California. Governor Schwartzenegger said his state's fire season has gone from a few months to all year round. What got buried in the media is that he also put the blame on global warming.

Also this week, the U-N released greenhouse gas inventory data for the past 16 years. The BBC reported it straightforwardly: it's headline read "Emissions Up In Developed Nations". Compare that to the headline in the New York Times, the US paper of record: "Pollution Has Leveled Off, But The Figures Have Holes". Busy readers who just scan headlines might have been reassured-for no good reason, as it turns out. The so-called "leveling off" was from averaging out emissions declines during economic downturns in the 1990's, but they've been rising sharply ever since. More worrying, the biggest recent increase came from economies in transition. Eastern European nations showed more than a 7% rise between 2000 and 2006.

Another reason for tuning out on the climate crisis is that Americans, like the rest of the world, are focusing on the tanking economy. When you've lost your job or the bulk of your retirement account, it’s hard to think about anything else. But here again, the news media aren't connecting the dots. The dominant view bandied about is that dealing with the economic crisis trumps the climate crisis. The pundits are asking rhetorically: can the Obama administration and Congress really fulfill on promises for a sustainable energy economy? Can we afford to put a price on carbon? The implication is "no"-and "no", too, for improving social sustainability by supporting programs that help the poor, working families and a struggling middle class.

And take how the media is reporting on the current troubles in the auto industry-like, the public radio show Marketplace. Under the headline "Obama meant it about C02", the piece, which appears on the Marketplace website, opens with, "And now, more damage for U.S. auto makers' bottom lines". The column concerns Obama's vow to overturn an EPA ruling forbidding California and three other states to impose stricter greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars. Reporter Melissa Kaplan warns if Obama acts on his stated intent, the move will increase "pressure on the auto industry to develop efficient vehicles, which will cost billions and restrict sales of currently-existing car models no longer compliant with new standards."

But Pam Solo, founder of 40MPG.org and president of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute, writes in an op ed for the San Francisco Chronicle that the way to save Detroit is to save it from itself. Referring to the same Obama plan, she says a loan-guarantee bailout to Detroit automakers should include requiring them to drop their four-year-long legal assault against global warming laws in California. It should also demand Detroit develop hybrids, clean diesels and other fuel-efficient vehicles-vehicles the public might actually want to buy.

Confronting the economic crisis and the climate crisis isn't a zero sum game. It's just the opposite-a win-win.

Worldwatch Institute Senior Researchers Michael Renner and Gary Gardner have proposed that the G-20 Summiteers (who will reconvene in April after having punted on dealing with the global economic meltdown last week) enact a Global Green Deal. They've proposed five strategies to turn the global economy around by going green: transitioning to a renewable energy economy, launching an efficiency revolution, investing in green infrastructure, cradle-to-cradle materials circulation, and a fairer distribution of wealth within and across borders.

And Deutsche Asset Management has issued a report calling for the establishment of a "reen" National Infrastructure Bank. It follows their recent paper, "Investing in Climate Change 2009: Necessity and Opportunity in Turbulent Times".

You can hear interviews with Michael Renner and with DAM's Climate Change Investment Research Director Bruce Kahn on this week's Corporate Watchdog Radio.

About Francesca Rheannon

Francesca Rheannon is co-host and co-producer of Corporate Watchdog Radio.

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