Richard Branson volunteers to launch ‘war room’ on global warming

Call this the “global warming surge,” a surge in which Shrub Bush will be permanently AWOL. British airline billionaire Branson, who has already started serious discussion on the greening of air travel, is ready to launch the global warming fight into its next phase:

The British billionaire, speaking at the start of a U.N. debate on climate change, said it would be run by a world figure in global warming and could serve as "a tool for the U.N." to ferret out good ideas and calculate each nation's costs.

“The ‘war room’ will be independent of politics,” Branson said. “But in the end it will need the United Nations, governments and other organizations to help make sure implementation happens.”

And, taking a break from his non-candidacy for president, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is sensibly calling for a carbon-dioxide tax rather than a cap-and-trade system.

This is a “surge” that any environmentalist can support. Hell, if Branson flew flights inside the U.S., I’d look to book with him for this reason alone.