Climate Change: International Challenge and Business Opportunity

Receiving the Nobel Prize today, Al Gore warned that failure to act against global warming will mean "mutually assured destruction." He had strong words for the US and China, two of the 190 nations meeting in Bali to hash out guidelines for a new treaty for reducing greenhouse gases. With a turnabout by Australia's newly elected prime minister, the United States is the only industrialized nation opposed to setting mandatory reductions of greenhouse gases. The Bush Administration backs private sector initiatives for energy savings and alternative energy sources. In Los Angeles, there's a meeting of entrepreneurs, manufacturers and investors who see climate change not just as a challenge, but an opportunity. What are they doing to reverse climate change and cope with a process that's already well under way? Can LA and other cities cash in on a new international industry created by global warming?