How has the climate debate changed since 1980?

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I was born in 1970, and have some strange memories of the decade.  For example, I remember finding out that Chairman Mao had died in 1976, and my mother telling me not to tell my father that she was voting for Gough Whitlam in the 1977 Australian election.

Honestly, not a bad grasp of politics and foreign affairs for a seven-year-old.

What I can’t remember is a time before it was widely understood that carbon emissions cause a greenhouse effect and, in turn, global warming.  The misinformation campaign by climate deniers has always raged, of course, but even as a child it seemed specious and rampantly self-interested.  

The point is that scientists have been fairly certain of the devastating effects of climate change for more than 50 years.  Throughout this period, people have been speculating about the possible ramifications for society and proposing potential policy responses.

While climate science has progressed markedly over the past 50 years, the broader debate hasn’t evolved at the same pace.  To my mind, this is why it’s so important to apply strict scientific principles to financial and economic climate risk – it’s the only way to ensure that our proposed responses make sense and that we keep moving forward.  Polemics can raise pulses but they can’t convince the skeptics.  If we only pursue speculative methods of risk assessment, we’ll be sitting around a table in twenty years engaged in exactly the same debate as today.