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Time cover story propels global warming into the mainstream

"Be worried. Be very worried." So warns the latest issue of Time magazine, which focuses on every Johnny-come-lately's favorite topic: global warming. The cover story -- the contents of which will be old news for devotees of scrappy nonprofit environmental magazines that need and deserve your ongoing financial support -- details the role of climate disruption in more violent storms, faster-melting glaciers, crippling droughts, animal and plant extinctions, yadda yadda yadda. Big placement in this most middle-of-the-road U.S. newsmag means that global warming has transcended the green and "liberal media" sectors to become a mainstream American enviro-political issue. Time backs up its editorial choice with a poll on Americans' environmental attitudes: 85 percent believe global warming is "probably happening"; almost half say it's a very important issue, up from 31 percent in 1998; and 52 percent favor government mandates in response, like curbs on power-plant emissions and tax breaks to advance clean energy tech. Welcome to worry, people.

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