‘The six points I’ve come to consider in the climate change discussion’

I accept there is a change in the climate going on, there’s really little doubt about that. I have no argument with any believer. What I do find doubtful though, is the notion that we mere mortals either have anything to do with it happening or that we can do anything much that is going to change the situation.

I’ve been ‘swatting up’ for some time now, reading anything I can get hold of on the subject, both the pros and the cons, written by scientists, journalists, politicians and even church people, and the first thing I noticed was the fact that none of these ‘experts’ seem to be able to agree on what is actually going on. In fact we all seem to be riding the ‘guesswork horse’!

I’ve seen a copy of a document written by about 1,100 scientists who insist that it’s all down to us, we’re creating too much carbon dioxide, we need to stop burning coal and we must stop felling trees. But I’ve also seen a similar document, published be another group of (coincidentally), 1,100 scientists, saying the very opposite — it’s simple evolution at work and there’s very little we can do about it. This group also says that the average volcano, while erupting, pumps out more CO2 in an hour than the whole human race can produce in a year, whatever we choose to burn! (Don’t forget, I don’t say any of these statements are true or false, I’m only quoting what I have read.)

I’ve tried to extract what seems to me to be common sense from all the blurb that is going around and the main points I’ve come up with are:

• there is global warming, but not solely caused by us. It is in fact mainly due to the fact that the earth is still coming out of the latest ice age, as it has been, on numerous occasions, for many thousands of years, as the earth swings closer and then further away, in its erratic orbit round the sun.
• that the dreaded carbon dioxide in the atmosphere apparently amounts to 3 per cent of the total air we breathe, with Australia’s contribution being about 3 per cent of that, (not a lot, is it).
• that said CO2 is not a poison, it is a necessary gas breathed in by plants. The plants extract the carbon for growth of wood and leaves, etc., and release oxygen for us to breathe! It seems logical then that we should aim to grow as many trees as we can (more trees, less CO2 growth in the atmosphere and possibly less global warming.
• that our wonderful Government, in its ultimate wisdom, is closing down coal mines to stop us making so much CO2, but instead sells the stuff to the Chinese, who burn it anyway, producing exactly the same amount of the gas as we would if we kept it here; where’s the gain in that?
• renewables (wind farms and sun light) are both very expensive compared to coal extraction and nowhere near as efficient for the production of energy as coal is.
• that aainst the advice of quite a large number of scientists, the Government will not introduce nuclear power here. Many other countries have and most of the other countries use our uranium, with Australia being one of the world’s largest producers of the stuff.

Perhaps the Victorian Government weren’t so wrong after all, to build that extremely expensive desalination plant to the south of Melbourne, which until now hasn’t really been used at all. There’s no doubt the atmosphere is producing less rain now, unfortunately coinciding with a period of intense atmospheric heat as well — and the ability to convert sea water into fresh, as required would seem to me to be money well spent. After all drinkable fresh water could very well become more and more important as time goes by and natural wells and springs dry up, as they appear to be doing, right now.

If desalination plants could be erected all round our coast, then pipelines built to carry the precious fluid into the interior, we might have a better chance of survival! I wonder too, if this action, of piping water inland, might not cause a slight change of climate, resulting in more rain arriving there too, or would that just be a fairy tale.

As I wrote at the start, I am only an interested spectator of what is going on and I claim no expertise on the subject, or knowledge as to the correctness of the above. A lot of what I’ve written, has been gleaned from others more skillful than me and does seem to make a lot more sense than some of the whacky ideas we do hear from time to time.

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