Earlier this year I wrote:

Cut to climate change. It too is MAD, as we're all "mutually assured destruction" if we continue to ignore this problem. However, the fact that global warming does not conjure up jarring images like hundreds of war heads pointed at our country or "finger on the button" jitters makes the entire issue less frightening, less impending, less urgent. Yet with each passing year of no mandates, no action, no urgency makes the probability of MAD that much more irreversible and certain.

When will this enormously pressing problem generate the fear it deserves, to be treated less as a luxury that can be managed or curtailed at the margin?

The fortunate thing about global warming is it is occurring at a slow enough pace so that we're not in any immediate jeopardy today, allowing for precious time to potentially address what needs to be done. However, the unfortunate aspect to that benefit is the threat is not foreboding enough, namely that global warming is not perceived as something that will kill us tomorrow, thus affording us time to worry about many other things other than global warming.

Alternet has an excellent article discussing the many problems with how people perceive global warming. It's worth reading and circulating to friends and family.