It was a good wake-up call to things that we just weren't thinking about since the early 90's (see also: Ferngully, Captain Planet).

But seriously, I live right next to an oil refinery and it sometimes gets tiring hearing "pollution is bad" when you hear about it so often and so close to home. The global warming scare may not have revolutionized all power and policy, but people around the world have been making small changes. I know of far more people that recycle now, and I wouldn't have thought to unplug un-used appliances if I hadn't heard of the idea. I'd say that, while the whole thing was a sham, it brought about some change that makes people better and that's nothing to complain about.

I'm calling this the Ozymandias theory.