It may well be true that in the past the Earth experienced rapid climate change that was not due to man made CO2. However there are now 7.4bn of us who require a benign climate to reliably grow food, enable fixed address coastal living and to draw water from streams.

Another reason to take some pain in moving away from fossil fuels is to prepare for sudden shortages; case in point east Australian gas. We have a false sense of security over oil but there have been several price shocks in the last 30 years so another could be lying in wait. As to climate change I suggest our limits to coping are already stretched. If days of 45C become the new normal for southern mainland capitals clearly that is a problem that could take trillions to fix.

If you accept that manmade CO2 is hastening climate change then we should wear the cost of reducing it with the bonus of becoming more resilient. Today's young children shouldn't have to rapidly face problems that in all probability have been worsened by today's adults.

I liked the beginning, and then puzzled at the end. I never learned what exactly 'pollution' was, and how we are not dealing with what aspects of it, and how that is endangering what bits of what environment.

I used to care and try to minimise the amount of chemicals I place in the atmosphere, but since the atmosphere was polluted with the political deception called "global warming" (later changed its name to "climate change"), I care no longer about adding some more chemicals as well, as this would make no real difference to an already-toxic environment. Next we only need to add some radioactive elements to this beautiful cocktail!

This filthy academic inspired and supported scam of what is it this week? Very rich people with their private jets and waterfront property are saying poor people give up money to them, it is disgusting.
I believe that we should demand the ABC report the apology that the UK Chief Scientist made about his mistakes in saying diesel was not as bad a pollutant as petrol is. This was the pinnacle of science fiction (literally) and resulted in massive losses caused by you disgusting academics. You will turn people away from science. Mind you, who treats you and your dopey mates as anything other than the modern equivalent of a court jester? Making up rubbish for your betters.
Philosophise that!

GOOD ARTICLE, GOOD POINT, ITS THE POLLUTION THAT'S THE PROBLEM, THE WORLD HAS NO SYSTEM FOR COMPING WITH SOME OF THE JUNK WE PUT IN THE AIR AND WATER. CO2 IS A NATURAL THING AND THERE ARE LOTS OF WAYS THE PLANET USES, NEEDS IT AND DIGESTS IT. I DO THINK THE CO2 BUINESS IS AN INDUCED DISTRACTION FROM THE FAR MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE THAT WE ARE HARDD AT WORK POISIONING THE EARTH WE LIVE ON.

Don't Worry,

Your caps button is stuck. What I've done is to shove a match stick into the space around it, so that the bloody thing never works ever again.

In Adelaide, we had a very short, mild Summer, with only a few days over the old century (Australia in Summer: it gets hot, folks, and always has - surprise ! ) and currently it's bloody cold. No worries, that's just standard variations, they happen all the time. But I wouldn't mind a bit of global warming.

And, Taswegian, so would the plant life of Australia: more CO2 in the atmosphere means more for plants to take up, and in the process, use water more efficiently (remember when they used to call it the 'Greenhouse Effect' ? Strangely quiet about that these days). CO2 is good, cold is bad, from the point of view of many plants.

I don't live too far from the beach, but I haven't noticed any sign whatever of coastal erosion (apart from the usual seasonal effects). The sea level doesn't seem to have risen - if it did, much more of the beach would be gone, maybe fifty metres further inland for every 10cm sea-level rise. Beach houses don't seem to be in danger: prices are rising steadily. Maybe they're fools ?

So yes, agnosticism may be the way to go.

Hmmm, what's the next Chicken Little panic ?

Joe