Can we turn the political noise down on climate change and do what makes sense for ourselves and coming generations?

The heat that has characterized the second half of the month in southern Minnesota no more proves climate change than the below-average temperatures of the first half of the month disprove it. Nor does the latest pronouncement from Al Gore or Rush Limbaugh prove anything.

We've been spending too much time as a society ratcheting up the unproductive rhetoric and too little racheting up smart energy policies. Think about it. If climate change is the threat most scientists think it is and we act to diversify energy sources through wind, solar and efficiency, we've helped avert it. If climate change isn't that threat, we've still promoted energy independence and reduced air and water pollution while giving our economy a new source of jobs.

It's good, though, that Minnesota didn't wait for Washington. A few years ago, Gov. Pawlenty signed a monumentally important clean energy bill into law.

Personally, I'm proud to live in a state that has given a jump-start to jobs and lower electricity bills through our 2007 Next Generation Energy Act. And that Minnesota lawmakers didn't condone more dirty coal-fired power in this year's legislative session. You don't have to believe in climate change to embrace these policies. You just have to like jobs and lower utility bills.