Stepping into the shoes that we think Al Gore has now vacated since accepting the Nobel Prize, Sen. John Kerry takes over as the Next Big American Voice Against Global Warming. But despite the big press, the noises he is making are no different. And particularly, coming from another Presidential also-ran, they seem too much like – excuse the loaded ecological simile – a carbon copy. But, of course, this being G8 (as opposed to F1) season, the air is thicker with allegations than vehicular exhaust. And it’s not surprising for America to flex its sanctions muscle in order to thwart third-world stances on the issue.

Writing in The Daily Beast, the senator warns:

Atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels have risen 38% in the industrial era, from 280 to 385 parts per million (ppm). Scientists have warned that anything above 450 ppm—a warming of 2 degrees Celsius—will result in an unacceptable risk of catastrophic climate change.

And the characteristic refrain, painted over with stars and stripes, goes:

The bottom line is that failure to tackle climate change risks much more than a ravaged environment: It risks a much more dangerous world, and a gravely threatened America.

Echoes of An Inconvenient Truth? Why aren’t we surprised?

Perhaps the good senator, who hails from the cornfields of Iowa, should have read The Stern Review instead.