Perhaps it's not a rhetorical trick or framing device, and is instead simply...the truth?

For decades the primary point of discussion with regards to climate change is "the right way to talk about it." And as far as I can tell, that's only ever shot us in the foot. Too optimistic, and people don't act because they think it's not that bad or that someone else will deal with it; too pessimistic, and everyone will apparently just shut down and not do anything about it because why bother.

Call me crazy but perhaps we should stop thinking about it this way and simply deal with the science and the facts as head-on as possible, and that includes not calling out accurate representations of where we're at and where we're going as "counterproductive."