Question 1: I've seen so little evidence by the governments of the past several administrations to convince people of America that we need to do something as a country and as citizens to take a little bit of sacrifice in order to protect the environment so that our grand children can enjoy something. I don't understand why the government doesn't make the effort to educate the populace [about protecting the environment]?

Question 2: I want to say that cities are taking action. In fact, the City of Cambridge has just adopted a local climate protection plan for 20 percent reduction from 1990-2010. It's one of 175 cities in the country and over 350 cities in the world that are taking a bottoms-up approach and not waiting for the accident at the corner to put the traffic light in. The New England governors are working with the Eastern Canadian Premieres on some of these goals as well. If local government decides to take action in a concerted way, do you think it will make a difference, or do we still have to wait for the federal government to take legislative action?

Question 3: There was one thing in your paper that said, "Indeed, those given to conspiracy theories suggest that the modern environmental movement in America and Europe purposely want to keep poor countries poor; a position given credence by the apparent environmentalist opposition to all forms of inexpensive energy accessible on any scale." Can you flesh that out a bit?

Question 4: Professor Stavins, your policy item number one, about letting the developing countries get on the train but not pay the fare. It sounds good, but it also sounded a whole lot to me like a welfare program. Historically, at least in the United States, welfare programs have had a rough time because people don't want to get to the level where they have to pay something. Could you elaborate on why a person would want to get too far along, to where he has to pay?

Question 5: You talked about how environmental organizations are putting out either sensationalized accounts of what's going on, or not really holding to the true sciences in the economics of what's going on. My perception is that…most people I know are willing to make some sacrifices and to get involved, but they're very confused about what actions they should take or policies that they should support… Are there good sources of information for people who…want to know if it's worth their time to take particular actions…?