You hit the nail on the head regarding why I have a problem with the “extreme” end of the Global Warming movement. Is it a movement? A belief? A theory? A fact? I don’t know what to call it, but when I hear what sounds like fear mongering, my hackles rise.

It isn’t a matter of disbelieving anything: I believe the data. Humanity’s wasteful consumption and our polluting ways have contributed to a worrisome shift in the climate. I also believe we can do something about it, that it will take time, but that we have to start making a serious investment. I don’t believe it is the end of the world, that we have to shut down everything and call it quits. From my obviously limited vantage as an interested amateur, I think the climate is a whole lot more complex and much more “self healing” and resilient than the doomsayers would have us believe. I’m even somewhat doubtful that the entirety of the climate shift is humanity’s “fault”: some data seems to suggest there are some major cycles at work in sun activity and the like that could overshadow our role.

But I guess there is another way to look at this. Assume for the moment that Dr. Hansen is “cooking the books” and adjusting stats to support his position. He may be absolutely right that there is a problem that we *must* act on quickly to correct. The 2016 date and the “adjusted” stats may be his way to scare the hesitant into making the necessary investment: inaccuracies, maybe even lies, but in the service of a greater truth.

Would that really be wrong? Maybe it *is* the only way to get things started. Personally, it bugs the heck out of me: I like having real data, I hate people using FUD to “sell” something, even if it is the right something. But I know that people are weird critters: $400 billion a year on the military gets barely a second glance, yet $10 billion in that same year on the space program is a “colossal waste”. To make the changes we need to make, disconnecting ourselves from the petrochemical teat and reducing our impact on the environment, means spending hundreds of billions of dollars. It also probably means making some difficult sacrifices like possibly trading in our Hummers for Smart cars. Maybe we have to be lied to, scared shitless, and pushed around in order to get the necessary action.