He’s not the only politician in Florida or across the country to sense the potential danger. Businesspeople, no matter whether they’re intent on taking advantage of the changing climate or trying to defend their turf, better realize that government is going to impinge on business as it grapples with global warming.

“The most important driver for investment risks and opportunities is the future regulatory framework,” reads a recent global report published by UBS Wealth Management on the business effects of climate change.

A chain of events over the past two years, including New Orleans’ 2005 Katrina disaster, Al Gore’s 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, and the Paris meeting of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February 2007, has pushed global warming way up on the list of Americans’ concerns. A Google search for “climate change” now yields 100 million results. That’s still below the 109 million Web mentions of “Iraq war,” but clearly ahead of the 87 million for “health crisis.”

The rising concern has triggered new regulations and incentives in the United States, and more are on the way. In a recent Pew survey of 31 large corporations, 90 percent said they believe that government regulation of greenhouse emissions is imminent.

After a new Florida governor, cabinet and legislature started work in January, a consensus quickly emerged that water-surrounded Florida must take action to brace for rising water levels, more intense hurricanes, drought and wild weather swings.

“Other states are way ahead of us,” said Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink during the first of four “Conversations on Climate Change” in Tampa April 3. “We’ve got to think about what we could do.”

Global warming has gone way beyond the level of feel-good campaign speeches to become a hands-on issue in politics and business.

Republican state senator Mike Bennett, whose electric contracting company thrives mainly off new construction, has been a driving force behind a law that forces the state to measure greenhouse gas emissions, orders Florida to provide half of its newly added electricity generation capacity from renewable energy sources by 2015, and tells investor-owned utilities such as FPL to offer their customers “net metering.” (These meters run backwards when a client with solar panels on the roof or a wind turbine in the yard produces more energy than he consumes. This essentially forces utilities to pay energy-producing clients at retail rates, instead of much lower wholesale prices.)

The state legislature this year also passed a law that boosts funding for ethanol research to $63 million.

Sarasota County and the city of Sarasota are also taking action. Sarasota County became the first county in the nation last year to join the “2030 Challenge” of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, pledging to drive its fossil-fuel consumption to zero by 2030. The county wants to achieve this by making all its buildings energy efficient, reducing its fossil-fuel use, and using more renewable energy. The city of Sarasota joined the 2030 Challenge in May.

The challenge provides hands-on incentives to developers. “Green” projects will get accelerated treatment at the building department, and all public buildings will be built according to green building standards.

In 1994, the county created the Florida House green-home demonstration project, and it has had a strong sustainability program for years. Its Sarasota 2050 plan provides for smart growth aspects such as mixed-use, higher density “villages” east of I-75. Also, the city’s Downtown Master Plan by New Urbanist movement pioneer Andrés Duany jibes with efforts to reduce the carbon footprint by creating higher density in urban cores.

“Florida isn’t a leader, but Sarasota is probably among the most progressive counties in the nation,” says Alex Wilson, executive editor of Vermont-based Environmental Building News. “I was quite impressed when I visited.”

The current administration in Washington is trying hard to avoid regulations and firm commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But even electric utility companies are now clamoring for some action in Washington. In February, the Electric Power Supply Association, of which FPL is a member, appealed to the federal government in a “let’s-get-it-over-with” kind of act to impose greenhouse emission caps. Eventually, the feds will have to join the global warming fray.