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We unfortunately already live on a planet where the climate has changed and will continue to change no matter what we do now. We're playing a game of making the problem less bad rather than preventing it.

The best way to deal with climate change has been obvious for years: cut greenhouse-gas emissions severely. We haven't done that. In 2010, for example, carbon emissions rose by six per cent - the largest such increase on record.

I don't think we can do anything about controlling what our climate is.

We have to face the reality of climate change. It is arguably the biggest threat we are facing today.

The damage that climate change is causing and that will get worse if we fail to act goes beyond the hundreds of thousands of lives, homes and businesses lost, ecosystems destroyed, species driven to extinction, infrastructure smashed and people inconvenienced.

It should simply be an empirical matter whether the climate is changing or not and whether we're responsible. But the various sides of the debate have now become so tribal that it's no longer a matter of changing our views as more information comes in.

We can't take climate change and put it on the back burner. If we don't address climate change, we won't be around as humans.

We must start to treat climate change as what it is - a threat to United States security. And we must not delay.

One thing we do know about the threat of climate change is that the cost of adjustment only grows the longer it's left unaddressed.

We need to start by having a conversation about climate change. It would be irresponsible to avoid the issue just because it's uncomfortable to talk about.