Ooeee, way to go Ludwig, don't bother with just a reef or glacier disappearing, go for the GOLD!

That's the hysterical statement of the week I believe, if not the month, well done that man. You should work for The Age, or do you?

I think the reason for the decline in public interest in AGW is the fraudulent attitudes adopted by the vested interests involved, the fact that the earth isn't getting any hotter, and the release of the hacked emails.

The public revulsion that 30,000 bureaucrats are going to the Copenhagen wank is another factor. I am sure that many feel that a large fan placed in the top of the meeting hall would generate enough clean electricity from the hot air to supply Denmark!

In addition, the fact that the subject has been hi-jacked by the lobby pushing for more aid to the third world, which is an issue totally unrelated to AGW, makes a lot of people think twice.

This is all good, as the real problem we are going to face over the next decade is Peak Oil, which is inevitable, immediate, and which will convulse western society, making possible AGW effects trivial in comparison.

The things that should be done NOW to grapple with these problems are:

1. A considerable increase in the tax on petrol, but not on LPG (because we are running out of oil, but have LPG for a few decades), to encourage people to convert their vehicles while we still have time.

2. The third world should be opened up for TRADE, not aid. If the Fourth Reich (otherwise known as the EU) were to abolish its common agricultural policy, and allow third world countries to send cheap food to Europe, this would achieve far more for them than all the aid already given.

3. No tax on electricity, as electric cars need to be encouraged.

4. No fancy conventions for politicians. If I had my way these would have to be held at the Woomera Detention Centre. Politicians should not be paid more than the dole, and should receive no travelling expenses unless they agree to travel in the worst seat in the plane.

5. A financial climate where people were encouraged to save, so that we can begin to pay off the massive debts we and our politicians have run up.

Easy. Change the focus from 'carbon emissions' and 'global warming' to 'peak oil' and 'oil independence'.

I think the change started as plerdsus suggested, when they started to
hear about the big grants that will be made to "Developing" countries.
I am yet to see a full list, but what is the betting that a very large
percentage of it will end up in Lichtenstein banks.

There seems to be a rush for gold in those countries.
The East African states have said they will not reveal how much they
are *demanding* from developed countries till after Copenhagen.

That is what gets up my nose, they say we owe it to them !
It is not our fault they fiddled around for centuries instead of
doing what we did to get ourselves out of the Middle Ages.
Does anyone think a country with a full scale space program and a large
military establishment is entitled to put its hand in our pocket
while at the same time buying up resources and companies here ?
China in particular should stop using their over breading as an excuse.

Disclaimer - I have no evidence to support this opinion.

I think the whole thing is a ruse.

World leaders know we are running out of resources to sustain our current level of energy usage. Let alone to sustain the exponential increase if emerging nations are allowed to enter into new markets.

So, what do you do?
1. Give emerging nations a carte blanche to do whatever they want and declare publicly that we will run out of resources in a few years? That would only result in hysteria, unemployment in developed nations, resource hording and skyrocketing resource prices.

2. Block emerging nations and play the environmental guilt card. Spin it enough and people will slowly accept the need for change and go "green".

I personally beleive most people support action to save the environment including climate change, but oppose having to pay for that out of their own pocket.

Twenty years ago I bought a canal front block on Port Phillip Bay and shortly after there started much ado about climate change and rising water levels. This worried me so before starting to build my house I contacted the local Port of Melbourne Authority (or some such name) and was put onto the Chief Engineer. He told me not to worry, it being just a scam to get more government funding for scientific research. He said there were hoards of scientists who had spent many years studying and after graduating could not find work because the government did not spend enough money on research to keep them all busy. He said that the threat of climate change was just what they needed.
Well I built my house in 1988 and although the block was about one metre above high water mark nothing much has changed.