WE NEED MORE RESEACH OBSEVATIONS OF HARMFUL EFFECT WITH METHANE GAS IN CLIMATE CHANGE WHICH WILL BE REQUIRED IN CONTRLLING OUR ECONOMY OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS' PRODUCTIVITY,HEALTH,WELFARE OF SOCIETY.

Judy,
Fear not Johhny "Bonsai" Howard will fix the problem, he may have already done so, after all we have had the benefit of our fearless leader for 10 years, in that time surely he has made a major contribution to this cause.

Bonsai is a little bush.

Shonga, I like your 'bonsai' moniker for our esteemed PM. Not only is he 'a little bush' but he has dwarfed and stunted Australia's dreams and visions and our care for our land and the world. We are a nation that cares most about the material things in the here and now, and Bonsai has played a large role in that. He has taught us that it is OK to be 'I'm alright, Jack'. To me, that is his biggest negative legacy.

The environemental problems facing Australia and the world have not been tackled in any meaningful fashion during the past 10 years. Why? because they are still really a problem for the future that can be put off or even denied. We don't want anything to get in the way of current prosperity. We cannot have a debate about alternative energy sources becuase that is a threat to coal exports. Ditto old growth forest logging. We can't do anything about salinity and degradation in the Murray-darling basin because...well, what is the reason. Sheer inertia probably. We are squandering our future.But hey, as long as we feel relaxed and comfortable and voting for Bonsai Johnny, then what else matters? The future is someone else's problem, right?

If Mike M was already aware of the threat posed by Ahmadinejad et al, then why were you asking me for a reference. Embarrassed by your own ignorance more likely.

I find it absolutely bizarre, and more than a little disgusting that based upon highly disputed and very uncertain probabilities MikeM says that global warming has the potential to upset nation states more than the odd atomic bomb, and to prove this he trots out precise figures for deaths per kilo ton of bomb.

Apart from the fact that one would create absolute panic and alarm world wide, the other would be accommodated over time. Including just turning the air conditioner on for a bit longer.

Thank god academics dills like you dont have a real say in government policy

When it comes to dilldom, bigmal, you're a pretty fair specimen yourself. Or maybe you have a limited attention span. Or both. I asked for a link to evidence that Ahmadinejad is, as you claimed, "a raving lunatic", not evidence for the fact, which is patently obvious, that he is hostile to the Western world in general and Israel in particular.

That you find something "absolutely bizarre" is a fact about you that is likely of no interest to most readers. Why do you mention it?

I'm not aware of any academics like me. Who are they?

Mikem,

Greenhouse warming scientists are "the least competent" to extrapolate what is happening to the world's climate. The context was and is obvious.
Why do posters assume you are an academic? The 'century behind the times in understanding the second law of thermodynamics' comment is a dead giveaway that you are not. Physical laws are timeless n'est ce pas?
However, you can google and I appreciated the thermodynamics quote. I've not seen that 'cyclonic self organisation into coherent structures' before. Full marks.
Your refrigerator remark however would be laughable except it answers a question people have beeen asking me. How do Engineered Wetlands (EWBs) make internal desert heat in Australia perform work for the nation? It seems people understand how they can keep coastal waters cleaner and they even understand that this can halt climate changes by treating dangerous high entropy masses of pollutants over land in wetlands where they are fixed and can do little damage. But how do EWBs make deserts work for us?

The answer is ... working fluids. The same answer as to how fridges work.
By creating a network of up to 100,000 1-5 acre EWBs at strategic saddle points throughout catchments all over Australia, it is possible not only to keep our coasts clean but also force inland heat to evaporate H20 as it moves down gullys, creeks and rivers to the coasts. This has innumerable benefits for inland Australia. Currently there is little or no working fluid in most catchments. Dispersant heat picks up dust, causes soil loss and gets caught up in gyres that take it to high entropy areas: first to pollution plumes off coasts and then to the roaring forties and onto the Sth Pole.
By increasing the permanent working fluid charge in our catchments, we make desert heat work in inland hydrological loops rather than blasting its way to melt the ice shelfs off the Sth Pole. This latter issue provides employment for bevys of GW scientists but drags the planet down by IGNORING the prime thermodynamic causes of climate change.