Environmental science is inherently stochastic and messy, but to write off an entire branch, as you seem to have done, is unfair to those who pursue careers in improving our understanding of climate.
"there's no way to confirm that the people behind them are actual "climate scientists", whatever that means"
Well, the system that we have is that of peer reviewed literature. People who are interested in environmental science or other related fields pursue research in those fields, and some happen to research climate.
Why do you put the words 'climate scientists' in quotations? Yes, there are scientists who study climate, much like there are scientists who study other environmental/biological/chemical phenomena.
"It's hard to see who's who anymore, but smug confidence like this definitely rings my alarm bells."
I'm not sure what this adds to the discussion. Could you perhaps rephrase or reword; maybe I've missed the content of the statement you intended to convey?
I certainly didn't mean to write off climate science or scientists. My point was that I don't know how to distinguish the science from the propaganda, except in obvious cases. I find it hard to believe that other armchair scientists can be so sure of themselves. They could be right, but to me its mostly a sign of propaganda.
So I don't know who the climate scientists are. Lots of parties are making wild claims and saying science is on their side. Take http://realclimate.org/ for instance. Is this real climate science? I mean, anyone could put up a website with the words "climate science from climate scientists". How does one tell?
Though I think you're right that peer-reviewed literature gives an indication.
"there's no way to confirm that the people behind them are actual "climate scientists", whatever that means"
Well, the system that we have is that of peer reviewed literature. People who are interested in environmental science or other related fields pursue research in those fields, and some happen to research climate.
Why do you put the words 'climate scientists' in quotations? Yes, there are scientists who study climate, much like there are scientists who study other environmental/biological/chemical phenomena.
"It's hard to see who's who anymore, but smug confidence like this definitely rings my alarm bells."
I'm not sure what this adds to the discussion. Could you perhaps rephrase or reword; maybe I've missed the content of the statement you intended to convey?