I never thought I would write a book. But as the debate about clean energy and climate legislation heated up during the past few months, I wanted to reach out to the broader public and talk about why I believe this debate is so important.

There are many people who have heard about climate change from both sides but are still not sure what to believe. A number of them are confused and uncertain, but ask me solid, probing questions. They might be skeptical of my answers at first, but they are willing to listen.

These are the people I want to connect with at this crucial moment. Our nation is finally confronting the climate crisis, and we need our lawmakers to commit to real action. Although the House of Representatives passed a clean energy and climate bill in the summer, the Senate continues to haggle over its own version. By the time you read this, the United States may have arrived at the negotiations in Copenhagen -- where the world's nations will convene to draft an internationally binding climate treaty -- without having passed a climate bill of its own. I hope I'm wrong, but if I'm not, we will have missed an important opportunity to set an example for the world. Meanwhile, each month brings more scientific evidence that climate change is accelerating beyond what we feared.

To persuade Congress that now is the time to act, we need support across America's political landscape. We need independent voices to call for clean energy, for green jobs, and for strengthening our national security by moving away from our dependence on foreign energy sources and by addressing climate change, whose effects would cause political disruptions around the world. Clean Energy, Common Sense: An American Call to Action on Global Climate Change, written with the help of my talented NRDC colleague Bob Deans, addresses a skeptical public and offers answers from the most authoritative experts on energy, economics, national defense, and climate.

When Bob and I first discussed the book, we drew our inspiration from the great essayist Thomas Paine, who in 1776 persuasively argued for the American colonies' break from British rule with his famously concise 47-page pamphlet, Common Sense. Like Paine's historic work, our book is small enough to fit into your pocket and short enough to read in two hours. It is accessible and timely, and I hope you will consider giving copies to the climate fence-sitters in your life. We want to get it into people's hands when it matters most: now, while Congress debates the single most important vote of our generation.