oh there are differences
Y2K, one could do real repeatable tests to demonstrate that some machines _would_ have problems.
So far, AGW, climate change/whatever has had proponents make sellable scare stories but never been able to demonstrate accurate predictions. yes, sure models adjusted after the events to explain them. Always after the events. So far, Oz head panic merchant predicted the end of big rains, 3 months before the sky fell i for two years. The current back pedalling on warming real soon now, its just delayed , smells of a hope that sooner or later AGW disaster predictions will come true, as all disasters do if one waits long enough. Finally, if there really was the threat AGW proponents claim, they would be actively pushing for workable alternatives. So far, the result has been the shutdown of nuclear power stations in Germany and Japan with payments to keep gas and coal plants working, years of delays in other ex-western countries for updating nuclear plants and lobbying for massive taxpayer funded green power generation that do not provide affordable base load power. This puts the cost of energy up,making it harder to keep an economy growing so there is money for when the carbon fuels of all kinds do run out, which is not contested.
The exception is a command economy where there still seems to be some grasp of the need for affordable energy to maintain tolerable living standards. Anyone who thinks life on a subsistence level is enjoyable is in need of help to heal their self hatred. Might sound great, until you break something or your children get sick.
We cynics who distrust everybody without a testable hypothesis find being labelled as idiots or worse because we don't go along with the stranglehold panic pressure groups have on the bureaucracies of governments more than irritating, There used to be something called the spirit of the age. Group think is the closest phrase left in the shrivelled newspeak that passes for sound encoded dialogue in this dark age Mk2. No need for conspiracies, simple group pressure and stupidity explain enough disasters, especially those committed by the clever and trained. Read up on human factors in aviation accidents or that marvelous book The Hinge Factor. As for the current crop of oz pollies, dunno how we did it, but worst ever of all colours.