People don't understand the scope of the problem? That's an understatement. If people comprehended the actual scope of the problem they'd be aghast. Think of ourselves on a train track with no way to get off the track and a train is definitely coming. We're not sure when we'll be impacted, but impacted we will be. Fiddling at the edges of the problem with carbon taxes and various environmental accords isn't going to stop the train from hitting us. It's doubtful our efforts would even slow the inevitable.