This is where you make a mistake, at least in part. Man-made climate change is the issue at hand, and it is critical to know what percentage it contributes. If the percentage is small, then the problem is small and not worth upending societies and economies to fix it. If it is large, then those costs need to be weighed and action taken.
Climate cannot change.
No gas or vapor has the capability to increase the temperature of the Earth. There is NO percentage that any gas or vapor contributes. You cannot create energy out of nothing. There is no problem, not even a 'small' one.
Right now, the government consensus is the latter because that increases the power of government.
This is very true. Government has no profit motive. Their motive of success is justifying itself to solve a problem. If they have to create the 'problem' to 'solve', they will do it.
I am highly skeptical that's the case as it is government making a self-serving claim based on what amounts to questionable science.
There is no science being used by the Church of Global Warming, whether it's a government organization or a Believer like Poorboy.
That is, we don't know enough about global climate to be upending society and economics over it, particularly on a very short timeframe (a decade or two).
There is no such thing as a 'global climate'.
Climate cannot change. It has no temperature either.
I also see that with past results and predictions, that those calling the loudest for change have been far more wrong than right. That doesn't give me any confidence that what they call for now is justifiable. What undermines Gorebal Warming, as I call it, is that. Those calling for massive change can't predict the climate or weather a month from now, let alone decades into the future. Their calls should be taken with a large bag of salt.
There is no climate to 'predict'. Climate cannot change. A marine climate will always be a marine climate. There is no such thing as a global climate.
The problem with the Church of Global Warming is manyfold:
* It is not possible to measure the temperature of the Earth.
* It is not possible to measure the global atmospheric CO2 content of Earth. These are both problems in statistical math, which the Church ignores.
* It is not possible to measure how much CO2 in the air occurs because of Man's activities.
* No gas or vapor (including CO2) has the capability to warm the Earth. The effect on that count is ZERO. This is in accordance with the 1st law of thermodynamics, which the Church ignores.
* No gas or vapor has the capability of reducing entropy...ever. The Church ignores the 2nd law of thermodynamics, attempting to heat a warmer surface using a colder gas. It's as if they want to say that if you turn off a light switch, the energy is instead stored in the wire and you don't need the power company anymore.
* Climate has no values associated with it. There is nothing that can 'change'. Climate has no temperature. Climate has no precipitation. There is no such thing as a global climate. The Church tries to use 'climate' to mean 'global warming', because their message got old and they try to rebrand it using the word 'climate' improperly.
* The Church likes to use the word 'forcing' a lot. No gas or vapor is a force.
As you have already noted, NONE of the Gloom and Doom these idiots predict has happened, despite the fact that they've been predicting it since the mid 70's that the Gloom and Doom will happen in ten years.
The government has made this religion a state religion (which violates the 1st amendment, of course). The Church tries to use NASA, a government agency, as 'sCiEnCe', and that the same agency can magickally somehow measure the temperature of the Earth. NOAA is no better.
Note that the 'solution' is always the same: Marxism and tyranny.