My mind sees after reading the thread again the great wisdom behind the three wise Monkeys.
One refuses to see.
One refuses to hear
One will not speak.
All the are content to not see speak or hear the Truth.
Yet truth exists and just as that tree in the forest will fall if it is heard or not.
Truth too will out.

Dear Spindoc,

Nobody denies that the planet has a finite amount of
resources or that it can tolerate only a limited
amount of pollution. If world population continues to
grow rapidly, if dindustrialisation spreads around the
world, and if pollution and resource depletion continue
at an increasing rate - and all these things are
happening - where is human society headed?

The most optimistic answer to these questions would be
that, one way or another, sweeping social changes
await us.

As for carbon dioxide? As a result of the burning of
fuels and wastes and the razing of forests, the amount
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is steadily
increasing. This gas creates a "greenhouse effect"
on the planet, for it allows solar rays to reach the
earth's surface but prevents heat from radiating back into
space. The consequence will be global warming, which will
eventually cause the melting of the polar ice caps, a rise
in sea levels, and changes in weather patterns.

The warming effect is already under way, and average
global temperature is expected to rise by 5 to 8 degrees
Fahrenheit by 2030. This seems like a small change, but
minor fluctuations in global temperature can have drastic
consequences: during the last ice age, when much of North
America was covered with sheets of ice more than a mile
thick, average temperature was only about 5 degrees cooler
than today.

As for what the warmer climate will bring - among other things
it will bring about changes in the global circulation patterns
that drive the weather; more powerful storms and more
numerous hurricanes; rises in sea levels, flooding of river
delta cities ... and so on. But enough said.

I don't expect you to believe any of this - however - what
each of us believes is irrelevant. We need to recognise
that we need to do something to prevent grave damage to
the atmosphere - and a clean energy future is an investment
that just may help save this planet for future generations.
Arguing about costs is absurd.

Belly,

You and Combet only see what you want to. The "breakthrough" is nothing but spin to cover up the total lack of progress.

Otherwise, can you tell me what emissions reductions the following countries have committed to, and by when:
USA
Canada
Russia
China
India,
Anyone else?

Thought so!

The answer is that they have committed to bugger all until 2020.

Belly, you are soooo right. After Cancun we couldn’t wait to get to Durban. Only one more year to get this all sorted. The Durban wrap was the same media release as Cancun, almost word for word but it did save a lot of time by just copying the Cancun text.

Thanks to the progress in Durban we obviously don’t need to get too excited about the Qatar round next year, the main reason for this is that the next four years will be put on hold until the next “milestone” in 2015.

The good news is that the USA, India and China have “committed” to legally binding global CO2 reductions. Well, actually, they didn’t so much as, you know er, commit. What they actually said was we won’t block you having your discussions about discussing for the next four years, a draft binding treaty for our consideration for possibly agreeing to something but not before 2020. Well that’s great isn’t it? I think?

The great news is that each time we have a meeting like Durban; things really start to kick along and firm up. I mean Qatar 2012 was going to be, you know, sooo like sensational. It’s just that we seem to have been you know, like trashed for four years, plus another five years, anyway, whatever.

Anyway, from inside the bubble where we don’t “see” anything, we don’t “hear” anything and we won’t “say” anything until 2020, we really do feel like the three wise monkeys. Actually, not so much “wise” as events keep proving us wrong, but we definitely feel like monkeys. (You know as in “useful idiots” or “fellow travelers”)

Belly, this is so, you know really cool and well you know we “just don’t get” it but hey, this is so fun yeh?

See you in 2020 right?

Belly, P.S. you know we really do depend on your insights. Should we take the Bongo Drums to Qatar or should we stick with the nose flutes? As promised I’ll bring you back a genuine relic of that “peak oil” you were telling us about.

Dear Lexi, one of the great tragedies in your life is your gullibility. Almost all of the “stuff” you quote is a right load of old B*&%$#@!cks! Straight out of the “Flannery Book of Infinitely Unsustainable Rubbish” and you are absolutely right, I don’t believe any of it.

We all know that you know it is rubbish by the way you try to defend it. When are YOU going to tell your children that the Polar bears are fine, the sea levels are fine, the ice caps are fine, the Great Barrier Reef is fine, the Himalayan glaciers are fine and that there is NO catastrophic tipping point for climate change?

When are YOU going to give your kids a glass of ice and water, filled to the brim and explain next morning why the floor is not wet and that Archimedes was right?

When are you going to admit you were wrong and give your children and the next generation the chance you are denying them?

When are you going to acknowledge that you and your fellow CAGW social ragamuffins going to fez up to being had?

Dear Spindoc,

When? Simple. The day that Australia's top scientists and
this country's pre-eminent public research organisation,
CSIRO, agree with your take on things. Until then I'll
take their version over yours.

It seems that little has changed historically - when
ignorance and vested interests are confronted by
scientific facts. New ideas, instead of being welcome for
the opportunities they opened up for the improvement of
the human lot, are always threats to those who have
become comfortable in their ideologies (religious or
otherwise). Ah well that's par for the course. Education is
of course the answer. However, education only works with
an open mind. See you on another thread.