Al Gore just may become the Rachel Carson of the 21st century as he launches a 2007 national grassroots campaign calling for a federal “freeze” on the carbon emissions behind global warming. His movie on the subject, An Inconvenient Truth, already has become the third highest-grossing documentary ever. According to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology poll, it’s struck a chord with Americans. Nearly half of us now cite global warming as the nation’s top environmental priority–up from 20 percent in 2003.

More than 300 can-do mayors and several governors are making modest inroads into independently cutting the 1.6 billion tons of U.S. emissions targeted by the international Kyoto Pact that our national government has failed to ratify. More businesses now see profit and profile-raising opportunities in going green. Utility customers are signing up for renewable energy choices in record numbers. Now Gore wants Americans to pressure Congress to get with the program.

Sources: The Christian Science Monitor and www.PlanetArk.com.