[Pretzel Logic]

Here's one that's tough to write off: James Lovelock was once one of the leading voices arguing that man-made global warming was destroying the planet (incidentally, this is the same guy who discovered CFC's and their link to the ozone layer -- arguably a pretty important discovery from an independent scientist), and in 2007, he was predicting incredible catastrophe:

At the leading edge of climate pessimism, the prognoses were frankly apocalyptic. "Before this century is over, billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic," predicted James Lovelock, a renowned environmental scientist.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/p...e=fullpage

That's about as extreme, dire, and alarmist as it gets. Well, a few years later, this once-staunch proponent reversed his stance (although he still has concerns -- but to go from "billions will die" to "I made a mistake." and "we don't know" is difficult and meaningful. He has entirely redacted portions of his earlier books.). And the end does contain an explanation of the predicament that government scientists are in (essentially, that they have no option BUT to try and "prove' man-made global warming):

Lovelock pointed to Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and Tim Flannery’s “The Weather Makers” as other examples of “alarmist” forecasts of the future…”The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened,” Lovelock said. “The climate is doing its usual tricks. There’s nothing much really happening yet. We were supposed to be halfway toward a frying world now,” he said. “The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time… it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that,” he added…Asked if he was now a climate skeptic, Lovelock told msnbc.com: “It depends what you mean by a skeptic. I’m not a denier.” He said human-caused carbon dioxide emissions were driving an increase in the global temperature, but added that the effect of the oceans was not well enough understood and could have a key role. “It (the sea) could make all the difference between a hot age and an ice age,” he said. ‘I made a mistake’ As “an independent and a loner,” he said he did not mind saying “All right, I made a mistake.” He claimed a university or government scientist might fear an admission of a mistake would lead to the loss of funding.

http://www.climatedepot.com/2012/04/23/a...z4AmrYffiK

Can't get to the original MSNBC story, but here's another site with some additional quotes: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/23/b...ate-alarm/

Same scientist: ‘Whenever UN puts its finger in it seems to become a mess’
‘The green religion is now taking over from the Christian religion’

http://www.climatedepot.com/2012/06/15/o...z4Ams9chqB