That you are or have been up to your butt in academia has been obvious for quite a while. Believe me I recognize the thinking process. I'm sure my writing and thinking radiates "engineer" just as strongly, with all its strengths and weaknesses. ;)

It's worth remembering that the initial post referred to a sensationalistic article that was subjected to, as far as I know, no rigorous analysis or review at all. Yet, it ends up making headlines all over the planet, and in a week it becomes an "established fact" to many people. Soon the doom of the Netherlands may become another "everybody knows."

The more I think about it, the more I think the research scientists aren't the problem as much as those who make political hay out of interpreting their results. A major paper came out last year on global warming where the cautious statements within the study itself were overridden by a much less cautious abstract or summary statement, the latter written by only a few scientists. It goes without saying that the summary is what was trumpeted in the press.

I am less concerned by scientists who say rising CO2 levels are of concern and need to be watched, a perfectly reasonable statement, than by those who seize on this kind of thing to implement what they have always wanted, massive centralized political control over the West and technological civilization. The Kyoto Accord was about the latter, not about any real concern over maintaining a prosperous world without polluting it, and pretty much everyone knew it.