Ah, so science is only stuff that already happened?
So when the wind gusts to 50 mph, and we know a hurricane is on the way, predicting that the winds will hit 100 is just pure folly?
You can't tell people to read the science and then say the facts, predictions and conclusions of thousands of the leading scholars is bunk. It certainly is not!
As you said yourself, it is politics and
PR and religion only with those on the outside - meaning you (and me - to some degree).
However, since my career is in energy, I do have at least a basic interest in keeping up with these things.
As I said, the deniers are...IMHO....just as religious or MORE as the folks who say the sky is falling. Actually, the science does show that the sky is falling, but as always most of the people on the planet will not be living to reap the whirlwind. So who cares, right?
The GW debate reminds me a lot of the nuclear radiation one. It is proven beyond a doubt that radiation causes cancer - LOTS of it. It can be easily measured over time. BUT, you can never actually point to one particular exposure of low level radiation and say "that one caused that cancer"....and you never will. So the folks who don't care about a couple more million cancers just say "but you can't prove it". And, like GW, the cancers often occur 20-30 years after the radiation.
Science tells us "just because YOU can't see something does not mean it is not happening".