...Oh well, this event will solve the housing crisis in Australia then. All reduced to slum dwellers. Good, at that point Darwinian theory takes control and the philosophy of “survival of the fittest”, (the free market mantra of Capitalism), will mature. Bring it on!

"To those climate change deniers who take comfort in the fact that they will only be proved wrong after their lifetimes and who hate their grandchildren: this one will happen soon. "

The author unquestionably accepts the anthropogenic global warming dogma. Given his computer skills, it is surprising that he has not done a computer search, or other type of search, of the scientific literature to find papers that contain scientific evidence that anthropogenic CO2 emissions have had a significant measurable effect on average global temperature. If he were to find any, he could tell not only his grandchildren, but everyone else.

A few comments on comments:

Thanks for all the critiquing of the Easter Island theory, but maybe you missed the fact that I deliberately qualified the Easter Island story with "One theory of what happened". Accuracy of the story is irrelevant for purposes of analogy.

On shale gas: there are some authorities who consider the claimed reserves to be grossly exaggerated (e.g. http://www.energybulletin.net/node/53556). In any case, these gas resources are highly infrastructure-intensive, and can't be brought to market instantly any more than newly-discovered oil fields. Even if they could be, converting a sufficient fraction of oil-based infrastructure to gas to make a difference would be a massive project. The IEA's forward projections show "unconventional" gas, well into the period when magical oil fields yet to be discovered come on line, as remaining a tiny share of the market more for logistical and infrastructural reasons than doubts about estimates of reserves (a matter on which the IEA has historically been naïvely trusting: why would OPEC lie to an OECD agency?).

Raycom: climate science isn't dogma, it's physics. I strongly recommend you read a copy of Principles of Planetary Climate by RT Pierrehumbert. Since you sneer at the work of thousands of scientists, presumably a bit of physics and calculus won't be beyond you. Thanks for your appreciation of my computer skills. The requisite search is http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=CO2+affect+global+temperature+attribution -- can you report back on what's wrong with the materials it turns up?

I admire the sunny optimism of some posting here but reality doesn't have favourites. If there's reason to believe the situation isn't dire, let's see the evidence.

Oh.

That's all right then, PhilipM.

>>Accuracy of the story is irrelevant for purposes of analogy.<<

So (taking the above comment to its logical conclusion) I can simply make up anything I like, and say "this is analogous to what we are doing to the environment. Take heed, everyone."

Along those helpful lines, I should avoid corporate Christmas parties (Die Hard), stay out of the water (Jaws), and never let a small furry animal open a bottle of champagne (Alvin and the Chipmunks).

Ok. Now that you've explained it, I guess it sort of works.

At least for the champagne.

Well Pericles, I for one would never let a Christian fundamentalist with a tub of spakfilla near me if I had a gaping god-shaped hole in my head.

Philip

Perhaps your problem is that you misread or misinterpret what has been written.

My reference was to the anthropogenic global warming dogma, not climate science.

I appreciate the work that is done by genuine climate scientists, not pseudo-scientists.

I strongly recommend that you and other warmists bring yourselves up to date by reading the 8 February 2011 open letter, 'The Truth About Climate Change', submitted to the United States Congress by a group of genuine US scientists, in response to a letter of 28 January 2011 from eighteen climate 'alarmists', that is available at the following link
http://www.co2science.org/education/truthalerts/v14/TruthAboutClimateChangeOpenLetter.php

Once you have read it and the reviews/reports referred to therein, you could perhaps report back with your impressions