OLO, you're just embarrassing yourself now. First the 'lesson for Rudd' which included nothing of the sort, and now an article under 'domestic politics' without discussing domestic politics: it attempts economics and environment and fails even that.

This is complete trash. Flint doesn't even know what he's describing. "Changing the weather"?! It's changing climate - there's a difference, and if he doesn't even realise this simple point then there's no point in continuing.

He makes all sorts of statements that are unsupported, and he never backs up. What does he think he's writing for, The Australian?

I haven't a clue what David Flint's real day job is but I guess he has to find a way of maintaining a profile as guest writer for right wing think tanks and obscure journals who produce rants on anything that limits mankind's ability to do whatever is in their self interest. The quantum leap from "who says global warming is happening" to ETS and socialism was breathtaking. I wouldn't suppose he would stoop to watching that purveyor of left wing, or rather communist propaganda, the ABC and its 4 Corners program about climate change in the Arctic? God! the lengths they went to to digitally create those scenes of melting ice sheets. Of course the fact that it hasn't occurred previously in God knows how many millions of years and is happening at an unprecedented rate in the past few decades or less means that it is all due to a solar glitch or some such thing. Come on David Flint, you are an academic, trained to present reasoned and sound arguments backed by facts and supportive evidence. Where is yours?

Flint's silly essay should have been condensed to 350 words and submitted as a comment under the "Capitalism and Gays" discussion.

Hey Hot Air! Remember 80% of India still cooks their food by burning cow dung and China is not represented by what we are currently seeing in Beijing or Shanghai; all neon lights and nose to tail traffic. They still aspire to have what you and I have enjoyed for decades and they deserve the opportunity to enjoy the spoils before you and others pull up stumps and demand they save the world for our sakes. If you want to lash out at anyone try having a go at the US. Remember too, that China produces a thousand times the amount of solar and renewal power that we do and will doubtless be exporting it back to us in the near future. It is not unreasonable to expect first world countries to show leadership and even a modicum of self sacrifice. Then let me give you the drum; the first world will, like it or not, be forced to forgo some of the differential in lifestyles it currently enjoys as the third world claims some of what we have had for for too long often. We live in a first world country with a third world economy and the Asian tiger economies will soon overtake us if they don't buy us first.

Dear OLO, ad hominen attacks on contributors degrade your forum, and coarsen discourse. The many against Prof Flint reveal their authors' quality of mind, but that is no good reason to infect this particular public square with personal contempt.

j5o6hn, Taswegian, Cazza,

You all personally attack David Flint.
You are the only three contributors who disagree with David's AGW view.
And therein lies the weakness of the AGW alarmists case. Personal attacks rather than debating the points raised by David Flint.

You didn't disgree with David's view of reducing fuel excise. I agree with that wholeheartedly. It's simply another government/bureaucratic rort. A rolled Gold rort. ETS taxation is just another of those feel good rolled gold rorts.

I am a fence sitter when it comes to climate change. I think the climate is changeing. Warming or cooling I don't really know. But I do know that the current warming started at least 100 years before humans increased significantly CO2 emissions. And if the AGW alarmstscan explain how that fact fits within their range of ideas and tell me in view of that then why their theory is correct then I'll probably lean towards their view.

Btw Taswegian CO2 is colourless and ordourless and has absolutely no impact on the smog in the olympic city of Shuking