What follows is a brief exchange from the anthro-l email list. I'm including it here because it sums up why so little is actually being done to reduce the factors causing out current climatic changes and I believe it needs a wider audience than just the list.

Eiríkur Hafberg:
>> What has become of the modern man? Wasn't he/she/it supposed to be
>> educated? Has the education system failed? Or is the market oriented
>> media to blame for being too strong and loud and misleading? What has
>> become of the Homo sapiens sapiens (did he ever exist?)?

jan matthieu
I"m afraid it's education, and maybe a portion of the public just isn't capable of grasping scientific uncertainty. Also authorities no longer are what they used to be. And climate 'science' has been attacked with pseudo-scientific arguments by those politically not interested in any solution that might cost them money or power in the short term. There are many good reasons to be found. But the result is: science has lost authority and the ignorant can now watch shows for ignorants where nobody bothers them with education. So we come to a society where some are being educated throughout their lives, and others just don't get any decent education at all. And it doesn't look like that last group is going to be a minority, but in the voting booth, their votes count as much as the educated votes. That leads to a drastic lowering of the standards of political debate too. i'm a bit pessimistic I have to say.