I think what galls me the most about the right's refusal to adknowledge the threat of climate change is the manner in which they have been able to frame the debate as a fight over frivilous environmental nostalgia -- as if the only reason to demand agressive environmental regulation is out of some fetishistic love of snowy owls. Of course, we should all be in awe of nature's magnificance, but we should also understand that good environmental policy is good economic policy. Preventing global warming is not about saving animals, it's about saving people.

If there is one thing we should understand its that ecological disaster is only a "disaster" from a human perspective. Nature is patient and will adapt to anything that humans can do to it. Even in the worst case scenario, ecosystems will reform around new climates and slowly, eventually, inevitably balance will be restored to the system.

Of course, whether or not our small and ephemeral culture would survive -- that's the cause worth fighting for.

Global Warming is the new Population Bomb. It is so much blah blah blah that adds up to nothing. Scientific facts intended to distract and alarm, taken alone, might be true about carbon dioxide concentrations, cow farts or ice caps. But just like pure white noise, they are not additive and do not predict impending doom. We didn't run out of food in 1985 and we are not going to be cooked alive in 2100, either.

Al Gore may have an outward concern for the environment, but unfortunately he blew it when he had FOUR children with his wife, Tipper. Most of the earth's environmental problems can be traced to overpopulation, and Mr. Gore demonstrated his lack of understanding of this basic fact with his oversized, selfishly resource-intensive breeding.

Lee Raymond and the rest of the gasoline cartel have every right to make record profits at the expense of humanity and the planet. I'm pretty sure that was amended into our Constitution at some point (wasn't it the 14th amendment?). Anyone who says otherwise is a communist or a responsible human being, both of which are deplorable things to be. What's next? Are you going to suggest that polluters pay taxes in order clean up the toxic messes they make? That's not the American way, we leave our waste where we please. Thank you very much.

I applaud you for tackling this difficult environmental issue and writing about it so eloquently. Had you been elected... oh, wait, you were, and I voted for you... I feel confident we'd be heading in a much better direction. It is rather discouraging to me that my governor drives a fleet of Hummers and that I share the roads every day with a large number of oversized SUV's. It seems like very few people take global warming seriously. The challenge, and perhaps the key, is to reach these people. The non-believers. Our political leaders should not only set guidelines, they should lead by example. Can you picture Mr. Bush or Mr. Schwarzenegger driving a Toyota Prius? Me neither. A stretch Hummer limo (if such an atrocity exists)? Sadly, yes.