Of course, climate inaction is not really the fault of the Obama administration. Obama even paid admirable attention to the issue in his second inaugural address, saying, "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations."

But he's stuck with a Republican House that not only refuses to take concrete action on climate change, but wants to undo even symbolic gestures towards environmental preservation by, for example, bringing Styrofoam cups back to the Congressional cafeteria for no real reason. Even an attempt to promote energy-efficient lightbulbs has been grabbed by the GOP as an opportunity for demagoguery.

[See a collection of political cartoons on Congress.]

Between a recalcitrant House and a Senate where too many members of the president's own party are beholden to coal interests, even the best of intentions run aground on the shores of legislative reality. So perhaps the best we can hope for at the moment is the symbolic gesture of re-installing solar panels on the White House.

But it's worth remembering what Carter said back in 1979 about his own solar array: "A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people – harnessing the power of the sun to enrich our lives as we move away from our crippling dependence on foreign oil." Sadly, the former is the case at the moment.

