This is an ancient Chinese curse and, if I were as credulous as those who believe conspiracy theories about 9/11, or as stupid as those who believe the apparent effectiveness of homeopathy is evidence of anything other than the placebo effect, I would have to say that “someone up there doesn’t like us”!
Current efforts to prevent the spread of the contagion of sovereign national debt crises within Europe seem destined to fail; the phone hacking scandal just keeps getting worse; as does the scale of historic record-breaking famines in the Horn of Africa…
So what is to be done? Well, taking heed of George Santayana (i.e. “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it“) would be a good start — and the history we need to remember is not just human; it is geological:
The ability of atmospheric temperature changes to induce ppm CO2 changes over geological time is evident from ice core/isotope data; whereas the evidence for the anthropogenic cause of rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution cannot be disputed. Similarly, the fact that Milankovitch wobbles in the Earth’s axis of rotation cause Ice Ages (which cause CO2 and sea level drops) is not generally disputed; whereas the feedback mechanisms that cause the reverse to happen (i.e. for increased CO2 levels to give rise to temperature and sea level rise) are also indisputable — because we can see them happening already.
With regard to climate modelling, contrary to what stupid people like Lord Monckton will tell anyone willing to listen (and most are because it is what they want to hear), it is the uncertainty in emissions growth predictions that give rise to most of the uncertainty in modelling results. When you retrospectively calibrate predictions using actual emissions data, you find that the models that include all forcings (i.e. solar, pollution and all GHG effects [not just CO2]) are extremely accurate (Henson proved this nearly 20 years ago after the Mt Pinatubo eruption).
However, IPCC predictions have always erred on the side of caution (because of the ludicrously-complicated peer review process they have to go through before publication). Therefore, unsurprisingly, global warming (including the melting of arctic sea ice, the thawing of permafrost, and the increased frequency of extreme weather events etc) is advancing faster than IPCC predicted most-likely.
What more data do you need before you will accept that we cannot afford to abdicate our collective responsibility any longer?