Editors' Summary

The Obama Administration could unilaterally act to curb global warming under a wide variety of existing laws, delivering cooling benefits and beginning to save lives within a few days to a few years. Eliminating both black carbon, ozone, methane, and other warming agents, with lifetimes of a few days to a few years, and carbon dioxide, with a lifetime of 50 to 3, years, would provide long-term and short-term security alike. The number of authorities, from the Clean Air Act and the Antiquities Act to Superfund, is vast and comprehensive. The effects of employing them would be great and immediate.