Maybe it’s time we take action to reduce the severity of the crisis before we end up in the scenario you describe.

Institutional science is now politics. At this point there’s no way to systemically create the kind of feedback loop necessary to take any kind of intelligent action, nor is there political will. It’s far more politically expedient in the near term for the powers that be to say that whatever measures they’ve implemented are working and then let the networked tribe punish anyone who dissents.

I can’t walk about in public wearing a mask for any length of time without getting harassed, despite the continued prevalence of COVID and the worsening picture regarding long term consequences. I have trouble believing “it’s clear” that a great percentage of the population will comply, I think the handling of the early lockdowns has done for that. It seems more clear to me that governments will struggle to get compliance for any such measures at scale, based on attitudes since.

Where do you live? I walk around with a mask in the UK with zero issues, same with my partner and family.

Well, if we're talking about climate change action items, then it actually makes sense to me, although I cannot find any numbers on how effective it is (comparing, to, say, better insulation of house windows).

By the way, "the government deciding" sounds like it's totally detached from public wish. But in democratic countries public has a lot of influence on the government, way more than popular meme says (speaking as an emigrant from autocratic regime), it just public is not exercising their right (or really trust the government). So it's actually "people are going to decide".