Mencius Moldbug explains how the entire anthropogenic global warming disaster developed:
First: out of genuine curiosity, people started trying to build climate models, measure CO2, and the like.Second: since [the U.S. government] is not a charity, they had to apply for grants and describe the importance of their work.
Third: they noticed, consciously or subconsciously, that an easy way to make their work seem more important was to predict disastrous consequences.
Fourth: the same evolutionary feedback process that, in a falsifiable science, eradicates error, operated to promote it. Researchers and fields which produced more alarming results received more funding — because, by definition, their work was more important.
Iterate to the point of sheer insanity, and you have the [anthropogenic global warming] research community we have today.