* We cannot let despair prevent us from acting. The big changes needed are possible, and we need to accelerate them.
* We actually don't know with certainty how bad it is going to get.
* People, in general, are not scared enough right now.
How do you figure that?
Not that there wasn't plenty of ignorant hysteria. But there was also a lot of real mitigation work. A lot of stuff didn't break on 1/1/2000 because we fixed the bugs before then.
When people feel a problem is hopeless, they cease to act. Climate alarmists trying to scare people into action with improbable outcomes, I feel, are being counter productive in this regard.
But the damage is already done. More alarmism (which is almost guaranteed) will be even more counter productive where people will just tune out.
I hate to say it, but I feel that climate change has become a distraction from doing real and necessary environmental work.