Are we in danger of a ‘perfect storm’ – where tough economic times combine with a surge in populist denial of global warming, and so throw the hard-won consensus on the need to tackle climate change into doubt?

That was the first thought that struck me on seeing how gleefully some of the press picked up, exaggerated and wildly misinterpreted a study by scientists on shifts in ocean circulation. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, in Kiel, suggested these could lead to lower temperatures, offsetting the effects of global warming for a few years.

The Telegraph’s headline, “Global warming may stop, scientists predict”, epitomised the laziness of a media desperate for any ammunition which might dent the solidity of the evidence on climate change.

I should point out, in fairness to its environment editor Charles Clover, that the article which followed concluded with a decent, balanced account of a complex issue – but how many of the paper’s readers would bother to get that far once their prejudices had been confirmed? Precious few, to judge by the surge in posts to the paper’s ‘Have Your Say’ slot, citing the new study as yet more evidence of “the biggest con-trick ever played on the human race”, as one particularly splenetic correspondent put it.

Small wonder, perhaps, that polls already show growing scepticism on climate change. In Britain at least, that’s been fuelled by last year’s atrocious summer, and an uncertain start to this one. As the latest study emphasises, climate change is a long-term threat. Its impacts will almost certainly dwarf the worst that any conceviableconceivable recession can throw at us - but while most of those impacts most of them remain on the distant horizon, they can seem small and inconsequential by comparison.

Which makes it all the harder for politicians to justify anything approaching ‘green’ taxes. And therefore all the more vital that anyone wanting to engage the wider public in the fight against climate change should stress the many ‘win-wins’ on offer, through strategies such as improving energy efficiency, generating local energy and enjoying local food. Strategies which make life sweeter and safer in the here and now, in other words.

It might be tempting to keep banging on about the looming apocalypse, but it’s likely to be self-defeating – like crying wolf when all seems quiet.. If the vast majority of climate scientists are right – and there’s no reason to doubt them – then global warming will soon be back on the front pages, whether we like it or not.

Martin Wright