Those calling for limits on renewable energy sources and the development of new coal-fired power plants were given another healthy dose of reality during the week, with news that under current emmissions levels, many parts of our planet could become uninhabitable.
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And while Europe cooks, America burns and Australia faces yet another crippling drought, Australia's politicians find themselves in yet another ideological tussle over energy security and our impact on the climate.
But climate change is no longer a debate; it's real and we need to start planning and acting accordingly.
Those who doubt its seriousness should take a moment to read the study "Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene" released earlier this week.
Its' authors, including Professor Will Steffen of the ANU's Climate Change Institute, have warned the world is not doing enough to combat climate change and that we are close to a tipping point.
"Sitting on our hands means we are at risk of driving the Earth - and human well-being - beyond an irreversible point of no return," he said.
"[If that happened] many parts of the planet could become uninhabitable for humans."
The Canberra Times report on the study, published on Tuesday morning, clocked up more than 110 strongly worded reader comments in less than 24 hours; The bulk of the feedback was strongly supportive of the need to act, and to act now.
That is quite timely given a meeting in Sydney on Friday will determine the fate of the Turnbull Government's beleaguered National Energy Guarantee.
At this stage it looks as if both the Victorian ALP Government and the ACT's ALP/Greens Coalition will veto the scheme which, admittedly, even its defenders accept is less than perfect.
The current standoff is reminiscent of the decision by the Greens to block the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Kevin Rudd had taken to the 2007 election a decade ago.
The then Prime Minister said the cap-and-trade scheme would have cut Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent of year 2000 levels by 2020.
While the then leader of the Greens, Christine Milne, has said she has "no regrets" about that decision, the fact is her party's insistence on perfection stopped the momentum for environmentally sensitive energy reform, which had been validated at the ballot box, in its tracks.
Although Ms Milne subsequently struck a carbon pricing deal with the Gillard Government it was too little too late. That scheme had not been implemented by the time the Coalition won the 2013 election.
The decision to vote against the CPRS remains one of the worst missed opportunities in Australian political history.
Critics of the scheme warn it locks in targets that are too low. This newspaper, among others, has argued it is better to introduce a flawed, but improvable, policy than to go on as we are and just do nothing.
But the real tragedy is that again, after so many false starts, Australia risks losing another decade to squabbling about the shape and form our attempt to reign in emissions should take.
The science is settled - the latest report shows that. Surely it isn't beyond our political leaders to unite around a workable compromise?
