Let's NOT take the politics out of this. Anthropogenic global warming is a fact and will have serious consequences. But how we collectively ought to respond to matters that can affect everything from how our tax dollars are spent, to building codes, to the location and shape of our cities, to agricultural production, to how energy is generated, to transportation, to the survival of plant and animal species, and to the quality of life of future generations inherently raises a host of political questions. Even sitting on the fence and pretending this should not be a political issue is itself a political stance and, I would say, a dangerous one at that.