Sidling away from climate debate

While results from Cancun seem to warrant cautious optimism, it seems fewer and fewer actors want to tackle climate head-on in the U.S.:

After two years of fairly disappointing outcomes at the U.N. climate summits in Copenhagen and Cancun, and after watching hopes for cap-and-trade or other measures to regulate carbon fizzle in the U.S. Congress, a growing slice of those favoring investment in clean-energy are working hard to ditch the association with "climate," which now seems to many a losing political issue. As the Breakthrough Institute's Ted Nordhaus put it, "We need to free energy from the polarizing climate debate."

This seems like an obvious step, in retrospect, and potentially a very positive and effective one. After all, climate is only one form of environmental pressure humankind is exerting upon the planet, and there are many other (inter-related) challenges to tackle (water, waste, agricultural sustainability, etc.). And hey, if it worked in Kansas...