How to convince a skeptic to support action on climate change

In a nutshell, here's why supporting action on climate change is sensible.

Suppose, having looked at the data, you believe climate change is unlikely to be caused by carbon emissions. That's no more excuse for inaction, than believing that because a fire in your home is quite unlikely, it's not worth buying fire insurance. Hardly anybody thinks a fire is likely, but most rational people will buy insurance.

The cost of drastically reducing CO2 emissions by 2050 -- estimated at one percent of GDP -- is sufficiently low that mitigating the risk of climate change is no different than factoring in the cost any other kind of insurance.

What is the Green Paradox?

 UPDATED

The Green Paradox says that "policies of lowering carbon demand may aggravate rather than alleviate climate change."

Source: "Carbon Leakage, the Green Paradox and Perfect Future Markets" by Thomas Eichner (hat-tip ECC).

Update:
 Hans Warner-Sinn, writing in the FT, explains Green Paradox and its policy implications:

The explanation is simple. Green measures that herald a gradual tightening of policy over the coming decades exert a stronger downward pressure on future prices than on current ones. The owners of oil and gas fields react by pulling forward production. That is the green paradox: efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the future have the effect of accelerating climate change now.

The lesson is that environmental policy must shift its focus from fossil fuel demand to its supply. Instead of mulling over for the thousandth time which technical fixes could be applied to reduce CO 2 emissions, we should turn to the core question of how to induce resource owners to leave more carbon underground.

Aside from useful but limited afforestation efforts, there are only two ways to curb the accumulation of CO 2 in the atmosphere and slow down global warming. We must either temporarily refrain from extracting carbon, or stuff it back into the ground after harvesting its energy. All the technical and political initiatives to tackle the greenhouse effect must recognise this fundamental truth.

 Sinn explains that it's just not feasible to bury enough carbon, and that piecemeal measures will lead petroleum exporting countries to increase production today before energy saving measures come into effect lowering the price they will get for their oil in the future.