Persuading in democracies

The climate change debate now focuses on why we did not take advantage of the clear majority for action in 2009 - and now in 2011 face a real problem building any majority for action in the USA and Australia. I still think that the cataclysmic approach does not work and that too many scientists (or their interpreters) became policy advocates - and that has meant that the science is increasingly questioned. I also understand the frustration that scientists had when they felt that their views were being ignored. The New Republic has a good overview of other views: in the end, it will become a classic case of public policy failure...