Global warming is an alarmist ideology. The inductive scientific method is always in theory falsifiable with the presentation of new data. Scientists as of yet do not know all of the variables involved in the makeup of earth's climate thereby making it impossible to determine with any degree of accuracy what percent of change is "natural" or "man-made."
This isn't to say that caring for the environment isn't important or shouldn't be a major concern, but rather that global warming serves as a convenient way for policymakers to pander to environmentalists and scare up support for the expansion of their power.
If the politicians got out of the way, fear mongering would be replaced with personal responsibility, enginuity, and self interest. I mean we could all be using hemp right now.
I have read quite a few publications on the matter my self and I think the available data is sufficient to conclude that the current uptick in warming is caused by man.
Natural causes are insufficient. Just because the earth was hotter in the past does not mean this is not caused by man.
That aside I agree with your sentiments with regards to politicians. People do care about the environment and the effect we have on it. However our hands are indeed largely tied in certain fronts.