By: Philip K. Howard

Dealing with climate change is now or never, according to a new detailed U.N.-sanctioned climate report by 234 scientists who analyzed 14,000 studies. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called the report a "code red for humanity."

Will our democracy rise to the challenge? Democrats in Congress seem willing to throw money at environmental projects, but dealing with climate change requires altering the way we live and work.

Democracies are notoriously inept at taking things away from people.

For decades now, environmentalists have been punching the Washington pillow. They assume that dark forces are preventing change. This gives too much credit to opponents and ignores a far more powerful force: The inertial drive of democracies that resists, except in immediate crisis, changing existing ways of doing things. With great effort, democracy can add programs and benefits, but it almost never disrupts them.

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