Sen. Susan Collins was right Wednesday to support a bill that dramatically increases the nation’s commitment to developing sustainable sources of energy and builds a climate change strategy for the United States. This large and growing problem can be solved, but it will take a serious effort and long-term investment in measures such as this one.

The Climate Change Strategy and Technology Innovation Act, which doubles funding for technology research and creates a National Office of Climate Change Response, stands a good chance of passing not only because it has bipartisan support but because it has the support of earlier climate-change skeptics such as Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. Now a sponsor of the bill, Sen. Stevens reversed his stance on the issue merely by touring his home state.

On Wednesday, Sen. Stevens invited members of the Senate Government Affairs Committee to join him, where, he said, they would see the following: “Pack ice, which insulates our coastal villages from winter storms, has shrunk. Increased storm activity has caused significant beach erosion that may displace entire communities along the coastline of Alaska. Sea ice is also thinner than it was 30 years ago. I was told in Fairbanks that while the world as a whole may have increased in temperature by 1 degree, the Arctic has increased in temperature by 7 degrees.”

The changes to the environment demand action in more than just technology research, including limits and reductions of current pollution levels. Supports of the technology proposal, introduced by Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, properly have made clear that their bill is not a replacement to immediate conservation efforts, including cuts to the four major pollutants from power plants and significant increases in fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, especially light trucks and SUVs. Both Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Collins have shown leadership in supporting these measures.

As President Bush meets with leaders of the major industrial nations starting today in Italy, with his stance against the Kyoto treaty as firm as ever, the bipartisan bills in Congress give him something to show that the United States is willing to work harder to reduce the effects of climate change. And if he doubts the need for such work, he can take the tour with Sen. Stevens.