Kicking into full gear - 2007, the year we get serious about global warming

I predict that 2007 will be remembered as the year Global Warming became a central issue in the United States. True, 2006 was a turning point in awareness. Hurricanes in the States reached an all time high. Films like Inconvenient Truthand Too Hot to Handle were released. Religious evangelists called for action. American Companies such as Walmart and Google invested in and promoted "green" practices.

But now with the change in congress we could finally see a carbon tax or other solutions. There are currently a few different bills introduced to solve this problem.

First is the Lieberman, McCain and now Obama solution. It calls for caps on emissions from power plants, industry and oil refineries. Unfortunately President Bush is not in favor of caps for the fear of hurting the economy. At least by having two potential presidential candidates on this bill, we can expect climate change to be an issue in the 2008 election.

Second is the bills sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Thomas R. Carper of Delaware which are sponsored by the utility companies. These bills also include caps.

Third is the bill sponsored by Barbara Boxer which also mentions caps but also includes funding for renewable and new emission standards for cars. Senator Boxer now the the head of the head of the U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee. She replaced Sen. James Inhofe who was skeptical of global warming. He even once called it a "hoax". Senator Boxer also recognizes that we can go beyond caps by increasing the efficiency of buildings and cars.

Hopefully this will be the year the federal government addresses global warming. We have the technology to stop it now we just need the political will.