Andy Rowel, writing for Oil Change International, says
Reading the British papers today there is a general consensus that the Stern review has changed the political landscape over climate change.
There are good economic reasons for the UK to be very concerned about climate change; around 1m Londoners live less that 2m above the current, high watermark of the River Thames. (And so does a good chunk of the financial district.)
That aside, the many in the UK are concerned about the impact that we are having on the environment. But that impact is not restricted to fossil fuels, although that is the most clear and present danger. There could be considerable impacts on the planet if we charge headlong into biofuels in areas where resources such as water or food supplies are limited. The dust bowl, desertification of the Mid west was caused when a key aquifer could not support the demands placed on it, and there could be a danger of this happening again if biofuels from wheat or cattle waste is pushed too hard in the US. http://www.icis.com/blogs/biofuels/archives/2006/10/water-and-biofuels.html#more
But this could be a short term problem if we can get people to understand the impact that their way of life has and start acting accordingly.
Giving Andy the last word
Whilst the political debate in Britain is raging, there has been largely silence from the White House. Even in this last bastion of climate change scepticism, life may change forever after the November elections. With a Democratic majority, even the US could start to act. The times really could be a changing. About time too...