Attacked both professionally and personally, I became a reluctant public figure in the climate wars.

CNN: Climate scientists and smear campaigns

But this list shows just how tricky this question has become in light of the climate wars.

FORBES: Asymmetric Climate Warfare

In the long run, too, aid may serve the national interest if it improves outsiders' opinions of Britain and somehow discourages wars, refugee flows, climate change or other nasties.

ECONOMIST: Reforming foreign aid

We had come together and voted for a candidate whose platform included universal health care, ending the wars in the Middle East and curbing climate change.

BBC: Viewpoint: Hoping for change, and coming up short

Climate change has become enmeshed in the so-called culture wars.

FORBES: How Climate Change Got Caught in the Culture Wars

The 2008 election is unusual in having so many big issues on the agenda: the economy, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, health care, taxes, immigration, education and climate change.

CNN: Commentary: 2008 campaign attack ads hit an all-time low

Catholicism is also a strong cultural influence in Africa's continuing search for answers to the challenges of poverty, diseases, ethnic and religious conflicts, wars, political and economic problems, radical Islamic fundamentalism, and how to mitigate the effects of climate change and natural disasters.

CNN: Why the next pope should be African