DrCrow, I don't know where you are getting this idea that scientists have all this power. For all the screaming by the vast majority of scientists, virtually nothing is being done about global warming. It is politicians, big money, and superpacs that have the power and make policy decisions, not scientists.

Your logic seems to be that sometimes scientists are wrong, therefore you shouldn't believe them unless you see it yourself. Well, that's pretty hard-lined, since a huge amount of incredibly beneficial science involves things you and I can't see. Global climate change is not something you and I are likely to see directly until it's too late. But that said there are quite a lot of visible effects, an interesting summary/overview is on NASA's website: http://climate.nasa.gov/effects

If you're waiting for the flood waters to come rolling into your living room in order to believe it, that is your right - but I would suggest that as a society we can do better than that.

And nobody is stopping Fox News from whipping everyone up into a frenzy about it. So I don't know where all this thought police Orwellian stuff is coming from. My point was regarding the wholesale disrespect these days for science, and you demonstrated my point far better than I did.