The British government says new legislation will save four million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2020 and help spread responsibility for collaring climate change right across the economy. A key thrust, however, will be to expand carbon trading, which means paying others to clean up our mess.

A few months ago we reported an exclusive story here on DeSmogBlog about the troubles renowned UK columnist and author, George Monbiot, was having with finding a publisher to launch his book Heat in the United States. 

Monbiot told us at the time that U.S. editors had all said a version of the same thing: "Americans aren’t ready for it."

It's clear that the United States, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia flexed their collective United Nations muscle in negotiating the final version of the IPCC's summary for policymakers released in Brussels on Friday. But don't let the global warming deniers tell you that the report was somehow played up by the "alarmist" UN and "their socialist group of scientists bent on new world order."

The exact opposite occurred.

George says the U.S. editors have all said a version of the same thing: "Americans aren’t ready for it."