Climate change is the most important life issue today

On almost any issue frequently debated, you'll find me solidly on the "right" side of politics. I'm an avowed social conservative, a staunch Constitutionalist, and try my best to be a devout, what some would call, "Evangelical" Christian. However, there are a few issues where my opinions are no less strong...but may bleed over into the "left" point of view. When it comes to "Climate Change", I am first-a conservationist, second-a pragmatist. I grew up in a largely rural environment, and currently live well outside the "hustle and bustle". Some of the best fishing, hiking, camping, and sporting regions on earth are right on my back step. I also live within minutes of one of the most famous nuclear sites in the U.S. I spent a decade working in the nano-phase, catalytic emissions reduction industry...and have legitimate concerns for the impact of those emissions upon the environment. Despite (or perhaps as a result of) being a former Sailor...I am firmly against nuclear technologies, and the testing, let alone use of them as weapons. All that being said, I am also opposed to "knee jerk" or "sweeping" measures to address these problems. We are an industrial society; cutting giant swaths in that industry "may" reverse some harmful effects...but will most assuredly come at a significant cost to the economy. Renewables are, for the present, incapable of keeping pace with fossil fuel sources. Other factors, such as population and consumption, cannot be adequately approached without adopting social or governmental policies that could strip us of our freedoms. To top all of that off, there are perfectly natural causalities to consider...and vague assumptions to be drawn regarding the overall impacts, and the timelines involved. To my mind, it is irresponsible when politicians make claims indicating that the earth will be uninhabitable...especially when these claims are made within such short a time-table as "twelve years". For me, the issue should be taken seriously...but in a way strictly segregated from politics. Science is no less guilty in this regard, having drifted too close to the public sector, at the loss of confidence in their impartiality, or objectivity. We simply cannot take Western Civilization back to the 16th Century, and have any better prospects than if we use 21st Century technologies to solve the issues at hand. We can produce emissions at the sub-ppmvdc level for CO, VOCs, and NOx. It is possible to safely and responsibly use fossil fuels. Hybrid and electric vehicles are close to becoming practical...but competition in the markets, not mandates from government, will be needed to lower the costs to the consumer. We can reduce waste...but we cannot alter the forces of the Cosmos, or turn back the clock as pertains to the rotation of the earth, her place in the heavens, or the eventuality that all things in time pass away.