and I agree 100% Global warming/cooling have been natural occurrences since the dawn of time (on this planet), and that's what we're experiencing now... a natural occurrence.
Couldn't agree more, Starkers, every time we have a flood in the UK there is a TV reporter saying this is the worst flood here for 100 - 150 years or more, so it happened then, climate has always changed, they tell us that in the ice age. as far south as the northern shores of the Mediterranean was under ice, well the ice cap melted then, or else it would have been too cold for Fuzzy to inhabit Sheffield.
Precisely, Yokie, it has all happened before, and anyone who has studied history/geography/geology knows that... that these are natural occurences resulting from the dynamic nature of the Earth. Sadly, however, education over the last 20 - 30 years has been focussed on economics and, as such, those with the most to gain have been able to dupe the younger, tree hugging generation into believing the planet is doomed if we don't implement ETS world-wide.
My though on that, if the power/fuel/energy people gave a stuff about the planet in the first place, is that they would have implemented 'best practice' measures decades ago... but no, they continued willy-nilly and are now saying that it will cost them considerably more to clean up their acts and produce 'clean' energy/fuel. BULLSHIT!!!!!
What this is really about is greed... an attempt to justify hiking up prices well beyond the norm. And while we have jackass poliies with IQ's just above moron status... many below, they are getting away with it. Here in Oz, the power companies intend to jack up our electricity costs by 50% to 60% next july - so-say to cover their costs if the ETS bill is passed - but in real tems our bills will have risen by 120% over four years. No other commodity/item has increased by half that much, not even petrol, and our pollies are not only letting them get away with it, we have the likes of PM Rudd actually encouraging it with his bullshit ETS.
What's worse... no, criminal about the entire charade, is that 'global warming. cooling, too, will continue long after they have implemented all these so-called 'planet saving measures. Yes, the pollies will have egg on their face, and the power/energy execs will get lynched, but we all will be certainly poorer for it (just as hot or cold) and the gap between the haves and the have nots will have become an insurmountable chasm.
Oh, and another thing! Rising sea levels being attributed to greenhouse gases, etc! Bollocks... total bollocks!!! We have the same amount of sea water as our prehistoric ancestors... not more. If some areas around the globe appear to be 'sinking' into the sea, it is the result of geolical shifts... the displacement of water due to land subduction in another part of the world. Just as new islands/atolls can be born as a result of volcanic/seismic activity, so will land masses shrink/disappear into the sea as water is displaced elsewhere. In essence, then, it's the laws of physics and nature... not some cooked up global warming scheme to extract more money from the paying public.
Having said all that, I DO agree that we need to look after our planet by polluting far less... by stopping wholesale deforestation, which is more likely to cause global warming, given that trees/vegetation provide our oxygen and help purify the atmosphere. A thin, dirty atmosphere will generate more heat as the pollutant molecules above us are expanded, bounced around and heated by the energy of the sun, so yes, we need to pollute far less... but not by paying billions upon billions to corporate entities. They need to learn restraint, humility and far less greed... respect for their customers by not thinking they're gullible, stupid and easily parted from their money, and therefore deserve to be ripped off.