The evidence that something is seriously wrong with our planet is overwhelming. Yet further unsettling evidence is to be found on the Four Corners documentary "Tipping Point" screened last night on 4 corners and to be repeated tonight at 11.30PM. The promotion for the documentary is "A voyage into the Arctic to witness the vanishing of the vast ice sea ... Can it be halted, or is it past tipping point?"

See http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/ http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/MessageList.aspx?b=21&t=54&te=True

I won't waste my time trying to argue how conclusive is the evidence that this has been caused by the digging up of nearly half of humankind's non-renewable bounty of fossil fuel in the last 200 years.

However, to have assumed that change to our biosphere on such a scale and in such a miniscule amount of time in geological terms would not have had gravely detrimental consequences was criminally reckless.

The onus of proof should never have been placed on those of us who feared the worst, rather the onus should have been placed on those seeking to profit from the digging up and burning of our fossil fuels at the current unprecedented rate to have proven that there activities would not be harmful.

It seems to me that those who are adding global-warming-denialist noise to these discussions, such as Arjay, want to lull the rest of us into complacency so that they can continue to profit from business-as-usual while the planet and our children's future goes to hell.

The other kind of noise added to these discussions are the various claims that it is all someone else's fault and that there is nothing that we can do to change this.

Whatever form the noise takes and regardless of whether it comes from self-appointed spokespersons for the oppressed of the Third World such as the author of this article or from inhabitants of industrialised nations, I urge those of you who want to preserve a future for our children to ignore them and get on with the job of both stabilising our populations and reducing our overall ecological footprint wherever you live.

Daggett;
I know that it is easy to knock those of us that have doubts
about AGW as distinct to GW. However it does seem to be a sport that
many pro GW people like to play even accusing some of corruption.

However, there is doubt in my mind and I am one of poor suckers who
will have to pay many dollars for it and if it all turns out to be a
phurphy will you pay me what it cost me ?

So I think I am entitled to better answers than I have been getting so far.

For instance;
http://brneurosci.org/co2.html

http://brneurosci.org/temperatures6.png

If in fact the logarithmic curve has indeed turned over then it won't
matter how much CO2 we put into the atmosphere.
Now I accept I have a bee in my bonnet about this but it seems
absolutely fundamental to the whole CO2 business.

Bazz,

All the people whose opinions I respect believe that the most likely cause of the changes in weather patterns is the massive changes caused by the increased demands of a massively expanded human population on this planet. One of those changes is, of course, the increased concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere, due to humankind stupidly having dug up, or extracted and burnt close to half of humankind's finite non-renewable endowment of fossil fuels in only two centuries.

If it turns out that, against the prevailing opinion of most climate scientists, that the worst predictions of global warming don't eventuate, I would be delighted to have been proven wrong.

However, as I wrote before, it would be reckless and irresponsible to continue with 'business as usual', let alone to accelerate extraction and burning of our fossil fuel reserves (http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24026408-3122,00.html http://www.risingtide.org.au http://candobetter.org/node/696 http://candobetter.org/node/671 http://candobetter.org/node/695 http://candobetter.org/NoMoreCoalExports http://candobetter.org/about#coal ) until we have much greater reassurance that it won't result in the destruction of conditions necessary to support advanced forms of life.

Also, warning is just one of a great many ways that our planetary life support system is being irreparably harmed. Everyone, who cares for the future mast do what can be done to ensure that both the overall numbers of consumers and the rate of consumption per consumer is not increased further.

Daggett,
Have no fear;

to ensure that both the overall numbers of consumers and the rate of
consumption per consumer is not increased further.

The rate of increase in oil consumption has ceased since 2005 to all
intents and purposes. Only very small changes up can occur and quite
soon the consumption will start its inevitable decline.

As far as coal is concerned it will be a few years yet, perhaps another
10 to 15 years and it will also start its natural depletion.

Whether it will be soon enough I don't know but then climate change
may be a slower process that you expect.

Bazz,

Please tell me if I am wrong.

It seems to me that you are trying to persuade those of us who are worried about our future and trying to do something about it to, instead, relax as you seem able to do.

So, if Queensland Premier Anna Bligh wants to triple our rate of coal exports by 2030, then that's OK by you is it?

Presumably, you are also quite happy to see our government export all of our gas and oil, and continue to burn vast quantities of coal in order to make aluminium?

If India decides to dig up all their coal and import as much more as they can from Australia and pollute their rivers, soil and air as the Chinese are now doing, so that its growing middle classes can emulate the wasteful consumption patterns of the First World, then that's also OK by you is it?

Whilst I don't expect to be able to shake you from your own complacency, some of us are not going to stick our heads in the sand as our astonishingly selfish elites (whether Indian or Australian) destroy our future to satiate their rapacious greed.

---

I have been quite well aware of the Peak Oil problem for some years now, thank you very much, and have also been quite well aware that, contrary to much official propaganda, coal is also a finite resource.

In spite of the fact that the amount of carbon that we can burn is not unlimited, it would be grossly irresponsible to assume that there is not more than enough in the ground to seriously compound the already serious harm done to our biosphere.

In any case, our fossil fuel reserves should be considered the property of all future generations and not just this one. Our own best interests, as well as those of future generations, would be best served by drastically reducing our consumption of petroleum, gas, and coal to levels that our biosphere can cope with so that one thousand years from now there is still some left over.

Bazz, daggett,

It's not that I disagree daggett - we should do something about CO2 as quickly as we can. Its just that I am rather skeptical we will. We let the Murray almost run dry - to the point of farmers burning their fruit farms before we got the stomach to do something about it.

And so it will be for CO2. In fact it will be worse, because we will turn to coal as a hydrocarbon replacement. Since deriving hydrocarbons doubles the CO2 released per litre hydrocarbon consumed, I will be stunned if our CO2 emissions don't grow quickly over the next decade. Surely Rudd must be aware of this? It will be interesting to see how he explains it given his pledge to reduce CO2 emissions.

Its a pity. Australia seems to have what it takes to become a world leader in alternate energy - the ability to organise infrastructure on a grand scale, the technical expertise, the raw materials like land and sunshine. But we won't because of our cheap coal. Things might be different if we could figure out how to export renewable energy.

The good news is the price of coal has been gradually going up as it becomes harder to obtain. This will force down the right road long before any politician can. This was Bazz's point, of course. I don't agree it is the correct course of action, but I do agree it is the course we will take - for better or worse.