Why wait until 2012? If the Kyoto countries are serious about fighting global warming (as they say they are, and if they already know that much deeper cuts will be required this time around (as they do), then we might as well get started. And if there is an election in the US before then, so much the better.

James Inhofe, whose understanding of climate change has done little burnish the reputation of either the Republican Party, or his native Oklahoma (he’s the fellow who called global warming “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”), is digging in his heels to try to make sure that the Live Earth concert doesn’t happen at the Capitol.

At the Global Brand Forum in Singapore, former US Vice President, Al Gore, speaks of ways that China can reduce greenhouse gas emissions – one being the switch to non-polluting technology.

“Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it.”

“Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore said on Tuesday he was optimistic future generations would look back at 2007 as the pivotal year when the world finally found the courage to fight together against climate change.”

World political and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland are urged by Al Gore to fight climate change by changing laws and treaty obligations and not just by “changing the light bulbs.”

“Al Gore, elevated to almost prophetic status for his campaign against global warming, on Sunday night unveiled a new $300m advertising blitz intended to force a debate on climate change during the presidential elections.”