Amid the clamor of health care debating and balloon boy (remember him?) speculating and Yankees-beating that’s been going on, there hasn’t been much room for talk of climate change legislation. To really make an impact, such legislation–be it cap-and-trade, in which companies buy and sell credits based on their polluting or the even better carbon tax in which companies (importing companies included!) pay a one-size-fits-all price for polluting–would have to be passed by December. It would need to predate the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen happening that month (known as COP15), but that’s really, really unlikely. Besides being distracted and all, Congress doesn’t like to feel rushed (except when it comes to bailing out Wall Street, in which case, rush away!) And neither, for that matter, do world nations. Since the U.S. is not going to step up, the COP15 nations are likely to do little more than lay the groundwork for a future global climate agreement. Because it’s not like time is running out or anything.

And Nike–a member of the Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy–has  had enough of all the waffling. It, along with a bunch of other high profile companies like PG&E, Johnson&Johnson and Apple, resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors in late September after the Chamber decided that any global warming legislation would have to apply globally to all major emitters–an extension of Congressional power that would require changing the U.S. Constitution. And the Chamber has resisted any legislation that would bring additional costs to businesses. In its statement, Nike said: “We believe that on the issue of climate change the Chamber has not represented the diversity of perspective held by the board of directors.”