For those fretting about global warming... let's just scrap all the scientific kerfuffle over whether anthropogenic global warming is real and assume for this argument that (a) the Earth is rapidly warming and (b) it's man's Co2 emissions that are causing it.
What would YOU have us all do about it?
Well, first of all, we should banish all the people who have been falsely misrepresenting science to the sidelines. Because the issue is real, and the delay they are causing in working out a solution is inexcusable, much like the people who fought the effects of cigarette smoking and health are responsible for many deaths and untold suffering because they desired short term profit over long term solutions. In fact, looking at this from the perspective of the tobacco fights in the 70s, 80s and 90s is instructive.
That being said, the first thing that needs to be addressed is to mitigate further CO2 emission. That means moving off of fossil fuels, but especially coal and oil, to other means of energy. Alternative energy is critical here, expansion of safe nuclear energy too and I would also think massive funding toward fusion research is helpful. This can be accomplished by a few different means. For those who want heavy government hands involved, mandating this stuff works. For those who prefer a market approach (I concur with this) a carbon tax or a cap and trade in carbon credits will be helpful. Ensuring the developing world gets with the program will also be useful, but since China is actually ahead of the US on this, it wont be too tough.
Coal and Oil can still work if we figure out some way of carbon sequestration. Its not a crazy idea to divert CO2 from coal plants into underground reserviors.
Lastly, geoengineering may be necessary at some point. removing the excess CO2 from the atmosphere might be challenging, but its possible to do theoretically. Less useful may be means that have unintended consequences, such as SO2 seeding and encouraging phytoplankton blooms, etc. But science should also be exploring these avenues. Decades from now, things may become clearer on solutions and the early work will give a jump start to solutions.
Of course, there are issues and costs with all of these things. And I expect the AGW crowd will be whining about all of them, just as the pro-tobacco crowd whined about 'freedom' when we resticted smoking rights, increased tobacco taxes, and made smokers paraihs. But I think most people looking back realize that we have all benefitted from a society that is attemtping to limit smoking.