Next Prez Will Have to Save the Planet

Whether it's John McCain or Barack Obama, the next US president will instantly face "the most momentous political challenge of all time"—saving the world from catastrophic climate change, Carlos Pascual and Strobe Talbott write in the Washington Post. We have 7 years to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid catastrophe: a submerged Manhattan, an even dryer Nevada, and millions of "climate refugees" the world over, they note.

The US will have to lead the world in combating climate change, the authors say, and the president will have to rally support from disparate groups: business, nonprofits, academia, and private citizens. And that difficult task is made harder by industry resistance and the inherited "anti-policy" of the Bush administration. (More climate change stories.)