Thanks in no small part to Al Gore and his film producers, the American public is waking up to the seriousness of global warming.That is not so widely appreciated is that unless the US government 1acted urgently and decisively, this problem could very quickly get 2very much worse. For reasons both economic or political coal is poised to be the 3fuel of choice in the coming decades as the US weans itself off foreign oil. Coal combustion generates half the US's electricity andreleases at 1. 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. If present 4trends continue, these figures will be more than double by 2050,much on to the detriment of the world's climate. Without an 5alternative fuel, the only solution is to capture and store carbon dioxide from burning coal. Overcome the engineering obstacles in the way of large-scale 6sequestration of carbon dioxide will be hard enough, and the bigger 7challenge is one of political will. US companies as yet have noincentive to capture carbon emissions. While movements at state 8and congressional levels are pushing in the right direction, the ambiguity in the administration's policy is counterproductive. It is time for the US government to put price on carbon 9emissions so utilities that invest in technologies to reduce carbonemissions will see their efforts rewarding. Such a move would not 10only reduce the risks associated with global warming, but also go a long way to restoring America's green credentials.