We are consumers of science, says Charles Emmerson, associate director of the World Economic Forum and author of The Future History Of The Arctic, taking the end product without due consideration for the process. As a result we profoundly misunderstand what science is and what it does.

Climate science in particular is about finding the balance of uncertainties, that there is a 50% chance of this, or a 50% chance of that. Either way, says Lord Nicholas Stern, former chief economist of the World Bank and author of The Stern Review, it doesn't matter. All we can say is there is a risk and it is an enormous one, and our political landscape is singularly ill-equipped to deal with uncertainty.

But there lies the end of the end-of-the-world-is-nigh terror. Compared with most talks of this nature, this one proved remarkably and refreshingly upbeat. China, Stern assures us, is on the case. It promises not only astonishing emission reductions, but now has big group of policymakers heavily invested in making it happen. Innovators worldwide are tumbling over themselves, often with mad ideas but sometimes with brilliant ones.

It transpires the blueprint for a safer planet is through public discussions, such as these, and through using our ability to rationalise and discuss, we can find the one truly viable route through as the realistic optimist.