Unfortunately, there's a lot of people in high places who understand the science but don't like where the policy leads them: too much government control.

You get a series of super-typhoons into Shanghai and millions of people die. Does the population there lose faith in Chinese government? Does China start to fissure? I'd prefer to deal with a rising, dominant China any day.

When we talk about climate, we need to do everything we can to set the stage before the actors come on. And they may only have one chance at success. We should keep thinking: How do we maximize that chance of success?

People working on climate change should prepare for catastrophic success.

Climate change isn't just an environmental issue; it's a technology, water, food, energy, population issue. None of this happens in a vacuum.

Politicians have responsibility to act if the public opinion changes.

We need to start prioritizing people, not polar bears. We're probably less adaptable than them, anyway. The farther you are from the Beltway, the more you can have a conversation about climate no matter how people vote. I never try to politicize the issue.