By covering federal agencies, Understanding Government hopes to identify problems before the next disaster. An under-funded Food and Drug Administration is an A-10 story now, but what if a few deaths from uninspected food and drugs become a few hundred?

That said, few better represent the non-linear project of preventing disasters than longtime NASA climate scientist James Hansen. It was in 1988 that Hansen propelled the issue of global warming to the national stage. Twenty years later Hansen is, not surprisingly, appalled by the federal government’s failure to confront the "time bomb" of climate change.

The New York Times’ Andrew Revkin reports that Hansen will speak before a House global warming committee today on what can still be done. Hansen’s ideas will include putting a moratorium on coal burning power plants and heavily taxing fossil fuel producers with the proceeds going to consumers.

If California falls into the ocean 50 years from now, it won’t be Hansen’s fault. -MB

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