Could real change start at the top and the bottom and meet in the middle? Your last paragraph seems to indicate that we don't need to wait to see who is president before we can take effective action to mitigate climate change. I understand you're just being agreeable with a reader's valid comment (that individual actions matter, but we also need leadership that listens to science), but by saying you believe that "real change must start at the top," you're undermining your point that "it's the greatest of mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little." People who don't want to change latch onto the idea that real change must start at the top. This gets them off the hook -- if their personal choices don't really make a difference, why bother.