Some decades hence, I suspect, people will look back and wonder why so many government, corporate and media elites were taken in by propaganda that was based on such shoddy and dishonest evidence. And taken in to the point that they advocated devoting trillions of dollars to a cause that was based on flagrant dishonesty and dissembling.
There was some basis for concern. If carbon dioxide emissions were the only factor affecting global climate, it is clear that increased emissions would tend to produce warmer temperatures over time. Those temperatures could create problems that rational societies would want to address.
But carbon dioxide emissions are not the only factor affecting global climate. Solar activity and water evaporation and countless other things do, too. Climate scientists do not fully understand those things and how they interact. It is rational for society to want to learn more.
Which is why I'm generally an optimist. I don't despair about the world. I find it amazing that the world works as well as it does with so many people holding quite looney beliefs. The dentist and auto mechanic who firmly believe in eco-catastrophe are fully capable of fixing your teeth and car. Life goes on. And as long as the eco-loons don't convince our governments to wreck our economy to solve the so-called problem they preach about, I couldn't care what they believe. They're free to use twisty light bulbs and toss and turn all night in worry. Just don't make your psychological problem my problem.
Barone also rightly notes that global warminng science doesn't even seem like science as much as religion. Yeah, it's a religion.
