FRONT PAGE: "House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change," By JOHN M. BRODER, New York Times, June 27, 2009.

Been waiting on this one since the 2001 economic security exercise I did with Cantor Fitzgerald atop World Trade Center One. Cap-and-trade had worked wonders with SOx and NOx in the early 1990s, and Cantor was selling the notion of similar markets for Asia--hence the game design. The consensus around the table (national security types, intell, executive branch officials, enviro groups, energy companies) was that some sort of restriction would inevitably come and that cap-and-trade would be the likely first attempt. So here we go . . . . the first time either side of Congress passes a bill. But I do agree with Gore that it was important to create some momentum on our side heading into the December treaty talks. China takes his all so seriously that, if we were to blow it off, it would come off like another huge global problem that we're purposefully ignoring. I did come away from my Shanghai experience with top Chinese academics convinced they saw global warming and CO2 control as a very big deal and that they were grateful that we now had a president who thought similarly. Doesn't mean China won't negotiate tooth-and-nail. Doesn't mean we won't have to cut them more slack than ourselves, given their still impoverished masses. Just means the conversation has begun for real.