The mood in Europe may be somewhat changing in this perspective: a poll in the Netherlands showed a majority of the Dutch want politicians choosing for the environment - even if overall wealth would stay the same or decrease!
Everyone exaggerates to get their point across, there is of course nothing new to that. The point is that those who should do the persuading, should be convincing. When bad, exaggerated arguments are presented and the next scientist is able to show how bad that probability is, the proponent for regulation gets floored.
The other way is to get people on board in politics who are already convinced, and don't feel they need to investigate the matter. Upgrading climate chaos to climate catastrophe sure may be the way to get there, but it's not a method I particularly fancy. I feel we're losing focus on the ball.
I could not agree more that the presentation about climate change has to be convincing. As for the use of the word "catastrophic"--to scientists studying corals, their die-off is catastrophic and has big implications for the food-chain, already being affected by ocean warming and likely to be affected by acidification. A billion people rely on the ocean for food.
And the the 150,000 deaths per year the UN is attributing to effects of climate change--wouldn't it be called catastrophic if a bomb killed that many people?
I think all your points are good ones. The Chicken Little approach will ultimately fail. But so will the "This too will pass" approach.
I could make an argument that one of the best ways to mitigate greenhouse gases is to improve the level of education in the US. That would help the generation that will be greatly affected --present newborns--use their brain power to address the problem. And it would help the public understand the problem and what means need to be applied.
An interesting article on the Stern report and priorities by Lomberg in the WSJ (available to nonsubscribers for the next few days): http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB116243506287110986-lMyQjAxMDE2NjAyNjQwMzY1Wj.html
