* "climate change" is a euphemism introduced by opponents of government action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to make the situation sound less threatening than "global warming". See the links below for the tactics of lobby groups who have a vested interest in maintaining unsustainable consumption of fossil fuels.
Alerts
- 3 Jul 12 ABC: Judge for yourselves on carbon tax, Gillard tells voters + Carbon tax 'economically efficient': Garnaut. Carbon pricing explained.
- 27 Apr 12 Scientific American: U.S. Voters Favor Regulating CO2
- 22 Oct 11 Scientific American: Different Method, Same Result: Global Warming Is Real - Independent analysis confirms earlier results but aims for greater transparency.
- 14 Oct 11 BBC: Australia parliament passes divisive carbon tax
- 23 Aug 11 Scientific American: Australia Passes CO2 Offset Laws, Carbon Pricing Next - Opinion: unfortunately masterful scaremongering by media people and some politicians means that Australians do not understand the intentions and effects of a carbon tax. The situation has effectively become a witch-hunt with reptilian instincts aroused and rational decision-making discarded.
- Australian Academy of Sciences: The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers - by Australia's peak science organisation [eminent scientists with no vested interest in the energy industry]
- 11 Dec 10: I have a suggestion for the skeptical politicians. Every developed country that refuses to implement effective climate-change polices should be required to enter into a future contract that requires their nations to pay for the effects of climate change on poorer nations. In other words, if they are that confident that there will be no human-induced climate change (or no serious consequences) then they should be repared to make a commitment to repair some of the damage, if they are proved wrong in coming decades.
- 17 Dec 2007 Daily Telegraph: [Australian Senator] Penny Wong's way is the right way for Bali roadmap. Something Australians can be proud of - at last.
- ...and then in the June 08 budget they scrap a solar panel rebate for most families! Petition: "WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, CALL ON THE [AUSTRALIAN] FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO SCRAP THE MEANS TEST ON THE SOLAR PANEL REBATE."
- 13 Aug 09: More shame from the Liberal/National coalition - now in opposition.
There are dozens of articles on this subject appearing every week. The following list is just a personal and somewhat random selection. Check out the links for many more.
Update 27 Nov 2000
Opinion: The Australian
Government contributed to the collapse of the
climate talks in The Hague. I am sure that the majority of
Australians disagree with the stand taken by the Howard Government
but it is evident that vested interests have prevailed. This
government's apparent disregard for future generations is
reprehensible. On the same day that former Environment Minister Robert
Hill was scuttling the climate agreement in The Hague the
Australian Prime Minister John
Howard
was touring northern New South Wales viewing the damage from the worst
flooding in decades. This flooding is not necessarily linked to global
warming but, as with other recent flooding around the globe, shows
clearly
how sensitive our
economy is to climate extremes - extremes
that will become greater under the effects of global warming.
23 Sep 01 (Not an item to be proud of) Engineers Australia: Australians are the worst greenhouse gas polluters in the industrialised world.... Update: Sorry URL no longer available - here is an extract:
Puzzled by reports of the US and other countries having the coldest winter for decades? See this article from EurekaAlert: The eastern U.S. keeps its cool while the world warms (updated URL) (also here) - warming oceans produce more cloud over the US (+ Higher ocean temperatures linked to cooling in Midwest) . Livescience.com: How Global Warming Can Chill the Planet. Some of the think tank organisations are misleadingly using this effect to question global warming.
Try this at home - experiment with a hot bath
Two or three degrees of warming does not sound like much - every day
the temperature fluctuates much more than this. But it is the
devastastion caused by unrelenting record peak temperatures that is a
major concern. To get a good idea of the effects of small peak temperature increases try this with a bath at home:
The japanese enjoy a hot bath - known as onsen where natural hot
spring water is used. Onsen have temperatures controlled to within a
degree or so and there is good reason for such tight temperature
control.
Fill the bath with hot water so that it is 38C (maybe use a medical thermometer). Try immersing yourself in the bath (but not your head). Most people find this hot but tolerable. Now increase the temperature to 40C. Immerse yourself again. Many people will find this uncomfortably hot. Try it again at 42C and your body will probably find it much too hot.
OK, water heats your body up much more quickly than air, but this demonstrates how sensitive life is to temperatures slighly higher than "normal". No wonder thousands of birds dropped dead from trees in Western Australia during the hot weather event that devasted Ningaloo coral reef recently.
For a succinct description of the problem of global warming read
chapter 11 of Carl Sagan's last book "Billions
and Billions" and chapter 4 of Cosmos - "Heaven and Hell" (extract) that was written in 1980. See also Carl Sagan's
Baloney Detection Kit - particularly before you click on the
following links!
18 Oct 08 Opinion: Would these same organisation claim that the current stock market turmoil is cyclic and that there is no reason for government intervention?
greenhous.html? When
this page was created in 1997 I was
limited to 8
letter filenames! My apologies for broken links.
Compiled by Michael Paine. For
latest update see News items.