Who has the upper hand ?

Just read Michael Christons Caltech Michelin Lecture on the validity of science, and how unsound science often turns into policy. You know, he's the guy that invented the techno-thriller genre, and wrote Jurassic Park.

In the lecture he states that:
There is no proof that second-hand smoke is harmful ?
The polar ice caps are not melting, but actually getting bigger ?
There are no models that can forecast global warming or cooling reliably ? (We can't even predict the weather in two weeks, how about 100 years down the line!!!)

His point being that it is getting increasingly harder for us to assess the truth behind the apparently scientific findings that are being reported in an ever more cluttered media, and that we should not believe everything we see. Especially in regard to environmentalism, which happens to coincide with the plot in his new book "state of fear" where he paints a picture of a group of environmentalists as manipulating the media for their own good.

Interestingly, I checked a few sites in the net, and found that there seems to be proof that the polar ice caps have gotten smaller for the last 8 consecutive years.

So who is being manipulative ?