I’m not saying there haven’t been serious consequences from climate change, I’m saying most westerners have not experienced them yet, and won’t experience them

I’m not saying there haven’t been serious consequences from climate change, I’m saying most westerners have not experienced them yet, and won’t experience them in the coming decade. There’s nothing controversial about that, it’s the view of mainstream climate science. Alarmism is ultimately counterproductive, because the risk is that people will see the gap between their personal experience and the climate prognostications, and decide the whole thing is complete bullshit. So it’s important that we are precise in our communication, and honest about the state of our knowledge. We face a monumental struggle to deflect the asteroid of climate change by the end of the century, and we need public buy in to do it. Anything that undermines that will magnify the challenge many times, and perhaps even render it impossible.