Organizers could scarcely have chosen a more appropriate day to call attention to the threat Maryland faces from climate change. It is of course impossible to prove that the heat wave we're currently experiencing is the result of global warming, but late-May temperatures in the upper-90s are the kind of thing we can expect more of if we don't address society's continued dependence on fossil fuels and the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

U.S. strategy on climate change is uncertain at best. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with its effort to restrict greenhouse gas emissions, but House Republicans (and even some congressional Democrats, including those from oil-producing states) are bent on thwarting it. Delay, denial, obfuscation - whatever tactics are required, opponents appear ready to go to the mattresses to protect their financial stake in the status quo.

That leaves efforts on the state level as critical as ever. Maryland may not be the only producer of greenhouse gases, but between the number of cars on Maryland's roads and the coal-fired power plants producing electricity for our homes, we do more than our share.

Tuesday's event by Environment Maryland, staged at the site where Tropical Storm Isabel flooded Fells Point in 2003, was meant to call attention specifically to the state's 2009 pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent below 2006 levels by 2020. Advocates say Maryland is already behind the pace and worry that state plans for achieving those reductions - expected to be released later this summer - won't go far enough.

That's a legitimate concern. The threat posed by climate change is real and growing, but public acceptance has not been so certain. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently pulled his state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the carbon trading pact in which Maryland participates. Gov. Martin O'Malley last week chided the Republican (his frequent foil on national policy) for calling RGGI gimmicky and ineffective.

Indeed, according to a report released Tuesday by Environment Maryland, carbon trading is one of the few areas in which Maryland is on target for its 2020 goals. In most others, progress is lackluster - particularly in areas like transportation technology and utilities regulation.

...