Have we failed to slow global warming pollution in part because climate and environmental activists have been too polite and well behaved?

In reality, Republicans have long been at war with clean energy. They have ridiculed investments in solar and wind power, bashed energy-efficiency standards, attacked state moves to promote renewable energy and championed laws that would enshrine taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuels while stripping them from wind and solar.

In the United States, we do a pretty good job of protecting iconic landscapes and postcard views, but the ocean gets no respect.

When it comes to energy, cost isn't everything - but it's a lot. Everybody wants cheap power.

When it comes to climate and energy, Gates is a radical consumerist. In his view, energy consumption is good - it just needs to be clean energy.

Bloomberg is famously impatient with beltway politics and believes that to get anything done you need to work from the ground up.

In reality, studies show that investments to spur renewable energy and boost energy efficiency generate far more jobs than oil and coal.