The lexicons of politics vs science

From: This article here

Art of language
"... Science is nothing without precision. You mislabel a larynx as a pharynx, call a nematode a trematode, and your career is done.

"Political language, on the other hand, is a triumph of misrepresentation. A failure becomes a success when some little crumb of your plan has worked; winning a battle allows claims of victory even as the war slips away.

"So you can describe climate change as 'the biggest threat confronting humanity' even when you are demonstrably doing more about hospital finances, say, about prisons, or some ill-defined threat from abroad.

"When a scientist talks about 'reducing greenhouse gas emissions' - I told you we would end up back at this phrase - he or she means just that; actually reducing them. "

And here

Strong language
"...The agency said that it would use stronger language to assess humanity's influence on climatic change than it had previously done.

"In 2001, it said that it was "likely" that human activities lay behind the trends observed at various parts of the planet; "likely" in IPCC terminology means between 66% and 90% probability.

"Now, the panel concluded that it was at least 90% certain that human emissions of greenhouse gases rather than natural variations are warming the planet's surface. "

I've always wondered why people don't listen to all these environment-related reports. When I wrote in my EOY essay about drastic weather changes and such within the next decade, the person who marked my essay obviously did not believe such things would happen. She even wrote a comment by the margin that said something to the extent of "this is too difficult to believe" or it's "too exaggerated".

Not two weeks later, the Stern Report was released. And it confirmed what I said in my essay. To think I got marked down for statements that has actual facts and studies backing it up.

So... we know the way we say it matters. Do we need to phrase things harshly before people will finally wake up and listen? Can we no longer carry out soft approaches? Should we tolerate flippant remarks about environment issues and climatic change?

Sometimes I think that mankind's end is near just by observing the current generation.

Wake up, people, wake up.