If there is a contentious and politicized branch of science today it is climate science. Either it's global warming, or global cooling, but we have settled on climate change, just in case it goes in a direction that is opposite to our predictions (beliefs?). I am not a specialist. So I can't weigh in and let you know who is right. But, it seems that the specialists are also at a loss to explain what is going on and what will happen with any degree of certainty. This is an excellent article:

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21574461-climate-ma...

It appears to summarize current thinking on all sides of the debate. I found it interesting even if not bringing me closer to what is the reality. But, like turbulence theory, climate science - which is actually applied turbulence - is unsolved. That would not normally be a big problem, there are many branches of science that are "unsolved". But with climate science, many are trying to push public policies based on their interpretation of what is happening. In particular, is climate change, if it is happening right now, due to what humans are doing, or are the large scale Earth/Solar interactions driving what is going on.

I don't know. The specialists don't know either. The environment should be made increasingly clean, no doubt. A problem is that parts of the developing world will not trade clean air and water for reduced economic growth. I can't blame them. My view is that the key lies with technology - making it cleaner and creating technology that will clean some of the mess. De-industrialization, in my view, is not the answer.