the ice sheet in Greenland collapsing, and the methane explosions in Russia, I would say we are past the tipping point. It is now moving into an amplifying feedback loop that will cook us alive. The time to act was in the 80s-90s. The last possible chance to act was the early 2000s.

Avaricious capitalism and conservatism have doomed us.

I know that many scientists and activists are desperately promoting the "only a few years left in which to act" bandwagon, but ultimately I think that effort is a misguided attempt to break through the complacency of the masses. They've helped foster the illusion that there is some way -- eventually -- to avert what will happen. The feeble efforts of even the most fervent activists are no better than just spitting in the wind.

Climate change itself will take the draconian action we've avoided: massive depopulation and removal of our industrial infrastructure.

As a group they don't like to make "Doomsday" predictions, since they are data driven and they know data can be wrong, or misinterpreted. As I have followed the reports since the 90s, the undertone I picked up has been that while they give a range of how bad it could be, the emphasis was on the lower end of "bad". But some scientists I spoke with said they did not dare publish the actual bad numbers, because they were VERY BAD. If they published them, they would be dismissed as cranks, and their reputations would be destroyed.

So, they hedged, and buried the really bad numbers.

If Jonas Salk were alive today, his reward for the smallpox vaccine would be death threats and professional ruination, such is the contempt that science is help by about a third of the populace.

I do not believe we can fix this no matter what we do. We are six feet from the cliff's edge, driving at 100 mph. The only change we can make is how close our body will be to the wreckage.

And totally off topic, may I say how much I love your DU screen name. It makes me smile every time I see it. Loveless was one of my favorite characters on WWW, and a damn good actor in his dramatic roles, like Ship of Fools.

and I agree he was a great talent. His Loveless was the epitome of the intelligent, urbane, and oh so polite, gentleman villain.