THIS SEEMS LIKE A GREAT IDEA:

British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, with former vice president Al Gore at his side, on Friday offered a $25 million prize for anyone who can come up with a way to blunt global climate change by removing at least a billion tons of carbon dioxide a year from the Earth’s atmosphere.

Branson, saying that the “survival of our species” is imperiled by current environmental trends, said the prize was similar to cash inducements that led to some of history’s most notable achievements in navigation, exploration and industry.

Congratulations to both of them for a very positive effort, which as Lance notes goes beyond the usual “hair shirt” environmentalism. Some thoughts of mine on the value of prizes can be found here.

UPDATE: It’s only sort of related, but this piece on how to save energy is worth mentioning.