If you saw Sixty Minutes last Sunday,the section on the AGW does leave a lot unresolved from both sides.Kevin Rudd in his summation appealed to our emotions of being responsible for our children and that he was just taking advice from the broad body of scientific consensus.He did not address any of David Evan's assertions that there were no "hot spots" above the equator and the fact that the Earth has cooled over the last 5 yrs.

Tara Brown did not put any difficult questions to the PM which suggests either she had been gagged or had not researched the topic properly herself.The obivious question would be,why are we, who are such a small nation willing to sacrifice our economy,when the likes of China and India will pay no heed to us limiting CO2 emitions?Is this grandstanding all about Kevin's international image?

What puzzled me about David Evans was that he did not play his other trump card,ie the ice core data reveals that cause and effect happens in reverse.Warming causes CO2 to be released from the oceans some 800 yrs later and CO2 does not cause warming.Either David Evans thought that this concept is too difficult for the masses to comprehend or he is having some doubts himself.

Arjay - I didn't watch '60 Minutes', but David Evans' claims have been well and truly refuted, by authoritative climate scientists. For example:

http://bravenewclimate.com/2008/08/10/dr-david-evans-born-again-alarmist/

I'm increasingly bemused by the sheer entrenchment of the denialist position. Some people are going to be severely embarrassed if they live long enough to witness the sh!t really hitting the fan.

CJ, I gather you are unaware of the petition, signed by 31072 American scientists, including 9021 PhDs, stating that there is no convincing scientific evidence that an increase Co2, or other gas is causing, or will cause any catastrophic heating of the earth.

They also state there is substantial evidence that enhanced Co2 in the atmosphere will produce benificial effects on the natural plant & animal environments of the earth.

I believe this tops the opinion of a few UN funded hacks. Thats about 25, of the 2000 they rave about, who actually wrote the rubbish.

Those of us who live long enough, say 20 years, will spit on the earth floor of our grass huts, at the mention of K RUDD.

Some facts Arjay:-

1 Human actions ARE the cause of the accelerated rate of global warming. THIS is the warming that concerns the thinking person and the warming we have the ability to abate. Any other warming, if indeed there is any of significance is beyond our control.
2 Per capita Australia has in the past produced and continues to produce far more GHG emissions than do any of the developing countries. In fact these countries will probably NEVER be able to attain the dizzy heights of natural resource consumption and waste (including GHG's) that Australia, USA, Canada and other countries take for granted. The planet just does not have the capacity to handle it.

WHEN we bring our per capita pollution of the atmosphere down to somewhere close to that contributed by the average Indian or Chinaman THEN we can complain.

The is not flat but if were we would not be able to do anything about it. We can do something about climate change.

Hasbeen: << CJ, I gather you are unaware of the petition, signed by 31072 American scientists, including 9021 PhDs, stating that there is no convincing scientific evidence that an increase Co2, or other gas is causing, or will cause any catastrophic heating of the earth. >>

Do you mean this one, Hasbeen:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Oregon_Institute_of_Science_and_Medicine

If so, you've been suckered by an industry-sponsored hoax. This "petition" has also been thoroughly discredited by most real climate scientists, and has been for years since it first appeared.

Why is it that AGW denialists are so willing to suspend their normal critical faculties in order to maintain their supposed scepticism?

It is becoming more and more evident that the denialist are actually those who believe in gw crap. They deny that there is little evidence to back their fear mongering and already have egg all over their faces with failed prophecies. They would of been stoned a long time ago if they were prophets in Israel.

This show is becoming more and more amusing everyday as the likes of Gore and Flannery live in denial of their many failed prophecies. The greedy Greens are the only winners as they continue to exploit the gullibility among the decreasing true believers.

No doubt just like evolution the science will continue to change while more and more people will wake up to the fraudulent nature of it. The bigoted ones will continue to hold to their dogmas despite the evidence. Thankfully the voting public will question once they start paying more for something that is a bad joke.