Canadian Politics Today

1. I know for instance, that they hired this man not because of a "risk" but because of reality.
2. Warm air causes ice to melt, which causes water levels to rise, which flows into coastal communities. You don't need a PHD. in environmental science to understand those basics.

1. That sentence is meaningless.  "Risk" means probability of something happening in reality.
2. But flooded cities are not a certainty.  You can't say with certainty that Maldives will be under water in 20 years, or humans will be extinct.

You CAN say that temperatures are predicted to increase 3 degrees, which COULD result in greater and more numerous storms, threats to cities etc. 

There's a difference in the language, and this is important.  The more we drive people to the science the more power the science will have on policy.