I'm wondering if the wrong message is being given out by the press on this topic. Assuming that the people I meet on a day to day basis are 'typical', the main problem is that the general public are still largely unaware of the potential severity and urgency of the situation (apart from those who dispute that it is caused by mankind).
I'm no scientist so I'm going with the most common view on this, it seems to be too potentially catastrophic to take a gamble on.
In order to drive a rapid change in behaviour, it is vital to have a strong public opinion driving change.
Unless opinion is turned around very quickly it is difficult to see any political benefit in pushing immediate change (as our political systems have a very short-term view of priority due to re-election wishes), we constantly see proposals to be delivered by a future government.
I feel that we need mainstream media to cover not global warming itself but to concentrate on the likely impact which is likely to create a more compelling argument. I don't think that the issue is people 'not caring' but more of not understanding what it actually means. Let's be honest, on the face of it, 1.5 degrees doesn't sound big or scary until it is mapped onto likely consequences the moving on to 4 degrees using the same logic, hey it isn't that much more is it.
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