Comment Re:where does the burden of proof lie? (Score 1) 747
"Noticeable impact" is not the bar that was raised. "Cause significant and irreparable harm to life on earth" is the bar.
What constitutes "significant harm"? The IPCC is predicting average surface temperatures to go up by between 2.0 to 11.5 degrees F in the 21st century (according to wikipedia). If we're to assume the impact is on the low end, would 2 degrees be significant? If you live in a northern climate, probably not. The weather might actually be nicer. If you live in Africa or India, it may be very significant, as in widespread famines and droughts. Even if things get bad, we the rich will still be able to buy ourselves food, but it isn't our place to think about ourselves only, but also the poor who won't be able to buy food when their crops fail, and can't afford to move to a nicer climate. Just because America isn't going to become one big Death Valley, doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned.
Also, quite aside from global warming, there is also the ocean acidification that goes along with increased carbon dioxide.
It's (mostly) the politicians (both sides!) I blame. They decided to fool the people to agree with their respective intractable positions, instead of engage them and bring consensus about an issue that may or may not be politically treatable. We still don't have good public information, that can be digested by laypeople
You will never get consensus from people who are religiously opposed to the idea that human activity might cause environmental harm, and who believe that global warming is just a socialist plot to institute a world government. (Not that all global warming sceptics are like that, but many are.) There may be many who just need convincing, but for them the information is out there.