Co-authored by Manuel Pastor. Cross-posted from The Huffington Post. No doubt you've heard the warnings -- the melting ice caps and rising sea levels, the extinct polar bears and extreme weather conditions. From pop culture movies like The Day After Tomorrow, to the tireless work of advocates like Al Gore, the discussion around climate change has often focused on environmental catastrophe and what the future may hold if humans don't change their carbon-emitting ways. These are, of course, serious concerns and we need to address them to secure our planet's future. But what's been missing from the conversation is how …