And, in the process of reducing emissions to avert possible climate change we would be:

1. Reducing the rate at which we deplete fossil fuels and;
2. Minimising the more immediate health impact on the population of other air pollutants

I think that most people would have to agree that
this planet of ours has a finite amount of
resources and that it can tolerate only a
limited amount of pollution. If world
population continues to grow rapidly, if
industrialism spreads around the world,
and if pollution and resource depletion
continues at an increasing rate - and all
these things continue to happen, the question
that we need to ask is - where is
human society headed?

We are so used to exploiting natural resources and
dumping our waste products into the environment
that we frequently forget that resources are limited
and exhaustible and that pollution can disrupt the
ecological balance on which our survival depends.

Where is human society headed? The most optimistic
answer would be that, one way or another,
sweeping changes await us.

Belly,
You said "America is having the hottest summer and hottest year ever"

Yeah, and last year America had record snows and record cold and the recorded earliest snows ever. Here Sydney recorded the coldest day for 56 years a while back.

For those that do not understand it is called WEATHER.

Last year your esteemed leader Kevin Rudd tried to tell us that a few hot days in Adelaide was because of AGW. It was "the greatest moral challenge of our time" The urgency is now past and we saved our money. Whew! thats good.

Now the wheels have fallen off that little red wagon.

What makes people so important that they think that we can influence the climate of the world. Or volcanos, earthquakes or continental drift. What about the tides or the fact that the magnetic poles are changing. Can we change the currents of the oceans or the wind. We can't even make it rain when we want, although we have spent a lot trying. Maybe we can try to move earth a little bit further from the sun to cool it down.

Sure the climate is changing and always has. Some people have to accept that it is natural and there is nothing we can do about it

The upcoming alarmist bandwagon is ocean acidifacation. Better than the Y2k bug. Some people need something to occupy themselves.

That is true Banjo what have you got in mind?

“The problem, as I see it, is that we have given all the power to the wrong people and too few of them.”

Well thats what happens when you trust government or collective assemblies of government (UN) to fix anything... it is like an elephant mating...

It is only ever performed with a lot of noise and takes a hell of a long time before you get a result.

So if you want to solve any problem i suggest you rely on the one person you should be able to rely upoin, yourself.

The fellow who started clean up Australia was right on the money when he said

“Think Global, Act Local”

The only way you improve things it to recognise that we are individually responsible for what we do.

Pretending some UN committee is doing to do things is a joke and a “nanny” expectation.

Demanding other people do things and conform to our view, simply because we support an untested and dubious theory in is an exercise in hubris.

Better we lead a virtuous life and then lead by example, than expect to get away with press-ganging others, against their will.

Banjo is, of course absolutely right...

and to answer Belly's question

do one of two things

1 as I have written above

2 accept that other people are free to do as they choose too and resist those who would demand to limit that freedom of choice

Otokonoko,

Bravo. Exactly what I was getting at. Cheers. We're just a glorified ant colony. Maybe white ant's chainsaw toothed cousin?. ;o)

Stern,

I actually very much agree. Didn't really have the space to clarify. Possibly what I was trying to say that IMO we have given the power to the wrong sort of people with the wrong sort of agenda to benefit us as a species existing in a more respectful way with the planet. I've seen power sharing. It's horrific.