Carbon Trading Scheme? WHY???

[CSP]

This makes interesting reading. Professor Ian Plimer could not have said it better! If you've read his book you will agree, this is a good summary. Australians showed sense in resisting the govt pressure to agree to a carbon tax the before the Copenhagen Conference - which seems years ago now.



Are you sitting down? Okay, here's the bombshell. The volcanic eruption that recently happened in Iceland in just FOUR DAYS, NEGATED EVERY SINGLE EFFORT you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emissions on our planet - all of you.

Of course you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress - it's that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow and to synthesize into oxygen for us humans and all animal life.

I know, I know.... (group hug)...it's very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of: driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnight to finish your kid's "The Green Revolution" science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV and speedboat, vacationing at home instead of Bali, nearly getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your $1 light bulbs with $10 light bulbs ...well, all of those things you have done have all gone down the tubes in just four days.

The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere in just four days - yes - FOUR DAYS ONLY by that volcano in Iceland, has totally erased every single effort you have made to reduce the evil beast, carbon. And there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud any one time - EVERY DAY.

Oh, I don't really want to rain on your parade too much, but I should mention that when the volcano Mt Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in its entire existance on earth. Yes folks, Mt Pinatubo was active for over one year - think about it.

Of course I shouldn't spoil this touchy-feely tree-hugging moment and mention the effect of solar and cosmic activity and the well-recognized 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keep happening, despite our completely insignificant efforts to affect climate change.

I'm so sorry. And I do wish I had a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud but the fact of the matter is that the bush fire season across the western USA and Australia this year alone will negate your efforts to reduce carbon in our world for the next two to three years. And it happens every year.

Just remember that your government just tried to impose a whopping carbon tax on you on the basis of the bogus "human-caused" climate change scenario.

Hey, isn't it interesting how they don't mention "Global Warming" any more, but just "Climate Change" - you know why? It's because the planet has COOLED by 0.7 degrees in the past century and these global warming bull artists got caught with their pants down.

And just keep in mind that if that same government is re-elected, you will have an Emissions Trading Scheme - that whopping new tax - imposed on you, that will achieve absolutely nothing except make you poorer. It won't stop any volcanoes from erupting, that's for sure.

But hey, grab a Coke, give the world a hug and have a nice day!

PS: I wonder if Iceland is buying carbon offsets?

[nathanVY]

haha, interesting article. I'm inclined to agree.

[Asmodai78]

A few years ago I went on a tour of a new recycling plant on the Central Coast in NSW and I asked the tour guide if I was to bag up 1 ton of this carbon emission how big would the bag need to be?.........I was then told by the guide not to ask stupid questions, at which point he was asked how much carbon does a cow produce every year?....... 16million tones was his reply.

[minux]

The Carbon tax is just a way to tax people for living. Co2 is good for the environment, more of it means earth thrives. Hey though, we cannot let the facts get in the way of a great greens rant!!

[stuntmanmike]

Asmodai78,
There's no such thing as a silliy question IMHO. Misleading facts are something else. Apparently livestock and generally all animals emit gases of various quantities and concentrations. Sometimes the sound makes people laugh...
CO2 is an ideal gas and can expand or contract at changing temperature. Interesting stuff.
I'm all for the warm and fuzzy messages of looking after our planet and try to minimize my waste output. Unfortunately I can't reason a correlation between climate change related taxes and unpredictable solar flare. I'm sure our ancestors from millions of years ago didn't mind and lived on to survive.

[satos]

The earth is approx 4.5 billion years old.
How the hell (pardon my french) do scientists know about climate change.
The earth is going through cycles and this is one of them.
The carbon trading scheme will do nothing but make our wallets lighter and the government's purse fatter.

[Ace_VP]

Stupid thing is things like Toyota Prius cars are worse for the environment than a hummer. Sure they are cleaner to run, but all of the pollutants that go into the atmosphere during the manufacturing mean that you can buy a hummer and do 150000km before you have the same so called carbon foot print than a prius.

Im all for renewable energy, but it should be researched based on the proviso that we wont have oil and coal etc for ever, not because its cleaner. Recycling is also good, but to save landfill, not carbon emissions.

I did a tour of forbes and parkes when i was an ag teacher, we looked at various large scale farming enterprises ranging from water mellons to large scale lucerne production for feed and fertiliser. One of the places we went and saw was a company that is buying up useless blocks of land from farmers, areas that cant be cropped or grazed and using this land they plant hundreds of trees. They work out how much CO2 these trees remove from the atmosphere and then sell the credits for thousands to companies that need to buy the credits to please the government. Absolutely stupid, but great for the bloke who thought the idea up, he is raking it in.

[Reaper]

ETS is nothing more than an extra growth and consumption tax with politically correct name. Changing the rate of the GST is for all intents and purposes impossible however varying the cost of carbon can be achieved on a daily basis all in the name of saving the planet. As I have stated on many occasions, just whacking a cost on it achieves nothing in reducing carbon emissions.

Real change in Australia can be achieved by looking at our power generation methods such as nuclear. Nuclear power is not sustainable at our current electricity tariffs. I for one would be much more agreeable to higher power prices knowing that it makes a meaningful contribution rather than being raped over a stupid carbon tax that makes no difference what so ever (In truth a carbon tax bought by Australia on it's own will make the worlds carbon emissions worse, not better which is just stupid).

Reaper

[Calaber]

I believe the Carbon Tax and the Mining Tax were really just methods devised by the ALP to get back the money they threw away on their stimulation programs. They spent up big time and needed to find a new source of a lot of money, quickly. Existing taxes would have taken too long and would have limited their ability to spend money the way they wanted.

[Full Spectrum]

Good old Honest John was quoted in saying, if you are to have any system in place for reducing emissions, an ets is the only way to go. The right wing evangelist will lose his liberal membership for that.

[albert5268]

Higher levels of CO2 means lower levels of O2 and higher relative surface temperatures. Humans currently pollute the atmosphere with over 130 times more CO2 than volcanoes do. Whether you believe humans are contributing to climate change or it is just happening naturally as part of a cycle it doesn't change the fact it is happening.

If you were told by a doctor you were becoming unhealthy would you say "oh it's probably not because of all the junk food I eat." or "oh its just natural for me to get fat" or I'll just wait till it's a problem and then fix it."?

I do believe it is hard for people to understand how fragile our ecosystem is without witnessing the change themselves. Many people living in rural areas have been unfortunate enough to witness this change. Is it worth risking our planet?

[CSP]

LMAO!!! If you seriously believe the human race can contribute significantly enough to cause negative affect on the planet, then you're plain deluded.

[albert5268]

LMAO!!! If you seriously believe the human race can contribute significantly enough to cause negative affect on the planet, then you're plain deluded.

What are you on about ?? No need to be an arsehole mate.

I said "Whether you believe humans are contributing to climate change or it is just happening naturally as part of a cycle it doesn't change the fact it is happening."

Anyway I personally don't know if we are (I haven't done that many tests **sarcasm**) but I have read a lot of papers by a scientists who beleive we are.
How do you know we can't? How do you know so much about our climate and the effect of the gasses and particles we contribute to the atmosphere?

[General Xander]

as has been said, the ets is just another form of revenue raising, to pay for single teenage mothers or pensions. if we just vote for the other party then they will invent some right wing version of this bullshit. i know its stupid, but what can we do?

[albert5268]

The fish are not biting today...

Maybe the government could all have the amount of our own pollution contribution put into a balloon every day and then we could fill out a pollution return form every financial year. Work out our deductions and maybe have a logbook recording how often we fart and release methane gas into the air etc. Whatever is left over has to be inhaled the following day. That would be incentive to not waste energy and contribute negatively to our environment...

**Prepares flame shield**

[RazzaCaine]

The fish are not biting today...

Maybe the government could all have the amount of our own pollution contribution put into a balloon every day and then we could fill out a pollution return form every financial year. Work out our deductions and maybe have a logbook recording how often we fart and release methane gas into the air etc. Whatever is left over has to be inhaled the following day. That would be incentive to not waste energy and contribute negatively to our environment...

**Prepares flame shield**

haha dont go giving them ideas!

[GenReaper]

Its all a method of control, nothing more nothing less.

They can kiss my ass as far as im concerned.

[Reaper]

I believe the Carbon Tax and the Mining Tax were really just methods devised by the ALP to get back the money they threw away on their stimulation programs. They spent up big time and needed to find a new source of a lot of money, quickly. Existing taxes would have taken too long and would have limited their ability to spend money the way they wanted.

I don't think there is any doubt what so ever on that one. As above, both are nothing more than another consumption tax that they are trying to implement by stealth.

Higher levels of CO2 means lower levels of O2 and higher relative surface temperatures. Humans currently pollute the atmosphere with over 130 times more CO2 than volcanoes do. Whether you believe humans are contributing to climate change or it is just happening naturally as part of a cycle it doesn't change the fact it is happening.

I really don't know who to believe on this one. There is no end of "highly respected" scientists and institutions each claiming exactly the opposite to be the indisputable fact, and each backed up by no end of evidence they claim that supports their point of view.

There are a few things that are indisputable.
1/ World crisis (perceived or otherwise) is good for the science business. Governments and philanthropic organizations around the world all want to be seen to help and tip bucket loads of money to the scientists.
2/ Lowering the worlds CO2 output is a win-win situation. Even if all the whole global warming camp are totally wrong, there is no downside to lowering un-natural CO2 emissions (and the other pollution that goes with it) that I can see.

If you were told by a doctor you were becoming unhealthy would you say "oh it's probably not because of all the junk food I eat."

Billions do.

Reaper

[Full Spectrum]

Like the GTS people will get over it.

[sjmcc]

There are a few things that are indisputable.
1/ World crisis (perceived or otherwise) is good for the science business. Governments and philanthropic organizations around the world all want to be seen to help and tip bucket loads of money to the scientists.

Reaper

And now we have reached the crux of the debate. 20 odd years ago it was the ozone layer, now it's CO2 emissions, soon it will be something else. I'm not saying people who support this are flat out wrong, but it makes great sense for the scientific community to have a new "threat to civilisation" type scenario every 10-20 years.