Climate - Question

The question in the Climate Change debate is almost as complex as some of the theories. Likewise, the opponents can't honestly be agglomerated into one monolithic group such as the "warmist" and the "deniers."  A whole range of nuanced positions exist:

1) Is the planet warming?  How can we tell?
2) If the planet is warming, is the change unusual or natural?
3) If the planet is warming, what are the causes? Can they be changed?
4) If the planet is warming, is that bad or good? For whom?
5) If warming is bad, what are the remedies?  Are they any better than the disease?  
6) If remedies are necessary, can they be implemented?

Unfortunately, this whole debate corrupted when it was moved outside the realm of scientific research and into politics before adequate answers were available.  Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth movie was an inconvenient step in the wrong direction. The movie misstatements, Gore's ignorance of science, and the eventual awarding of the highly political Nobel Peace Prize forced encampments of opponents and battle lines.  Each side of the debate, which according to Gore was over, had its army of scientists, winners, and losers engaged in political battles rather than in constructive science.

In the rush to trump the arguments of the opposition, errors, hyperbole, exaggeration, non-scientific methodologies, and innuendo became common.  The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) issued political summaries long in advance of the results its science research and used biased opinions in lieu of peer-reviewed publications.  The Climate Research Unit of the University of East Angolia got embroiled in major controversy (Climate Gate) when emails were leaked that alleged data manipulation and suppression.

The "debate" has deteriorated into both sides arguing passed each other, exaggerating misstatements of their opposition, "ad hominen" attacks, "straw men" arguments, and limiting distribution of the data to only the like-minded.  Sorting through the piles of corruption to reach the quality source material is a challenge that exhausts the public.  Most have relegated themselves to one-side or the other based solely on their political affiliations.