I arrived to a snowless Davos for the first time in the last four years I have been coming here. The scope and scale of the environmental catastrophe that confronts us is massive — and some damage is irretrievable — but the problem is not insurmountable and we simply must rise to the occasion.  I sat in on a live CNBC debate on climate collapse and the audience and panelists debated 3 questions. The audience responses, given the fact that we are at the world’s most powerful gathering of business and government, were encouraging and demonstrate the slowly evolving realization that we cannot afford to stay asleep at the wheel:

Motion 1: Nuclear energy and clearner coal are the only workable alternatives to oil. Agree: 27%/Disagree: 73%

Motion 2: Markets are superior to regulation in leading corporations towards greener operations. Agree: 29%/Disagree 71% (Pretty much everyone agreed we need regulation and the market but that the market alone is definitely failing us miserably)

Motion 3: A global carbon tax would do more harm than good. Agree: 35%/Disagree 64%