> I'm constantly reminded of the cartoon where a heckler is standing up during a Climate Change presentation, yelling, "What if it's a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?"

The truth is that if climate change really is the catastrophe that people are talking about, we will have to take drastic action that will make the world worse. Maybe we have to convert large portions of our land into solar and wind farms spoiling previously pristine wilderness with installations and power lines? Maybe we will have to embrace nuclear power and decide that having a Chernobyl every decade or so is a tolerable risk? Maybe we will have to decide that seeding with sulfur in the upper atmosphere is required to help with temperatures and that acid rain will just have to be an acceptable trade-off.

If people really believed that climate change was the catastrophe that they say it is, they would be willing to practically give away everything in exchange for getting legislation through that would help climate change. If democrats went to republicans and said "Look, climate change is a life or death thing. If you support an effective global carbon tax, we will support everything else in your platform." You could probably get legislation passed by next month. Of course, nobody really views climate change as being that much of a crisis!