Copenhagen is about to become the centre of the world because it’s where the world will meet to decide the collective path forward on climate change. Read some of the best Crikey writing on the issue here.
Nelson still talking guano on climate
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So what is the Coalition’s position on an emissions trading scheme? There was more confusion today with moderates urging “leadership” from Brendan Nelson on the issue and hardheads appearing to endorse Brendan Nelson’s view that the Coalition didn’t support starting a scheme until the likes of India and China had signed up. The G8 agreeing to long-range carbon reduction goals yesterday appeared to be a timely reminder that the world was moving on without the Coalition. This is what Nelson said:
So, in total confusion, we called opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt, and while Hunt did not reflect in any way on his leader’s communication skills, it appears that the Coalition remains committed — “rock solid” — to a 2012 start-date for an ETS, at the latest, regardless of what the big emitters do. According to Hunt, who has discussed the issue with the Coalition leadership group since Nelson’s remarks, that remains the Coalition’s position. So it seems Brendan was off-message on Monday. Julie Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull and Greg Hunt have been trying to clear up the confusion ever since, while avoiding any suggestion that their leader might have ”mis-spoke”. However, there’s an important nuance here that has been lost in coverage — including our own — of the ETS. Hunt argues that it’s the carbon emissions level under the scheme that is the real issue. An ambitious level, set well below current levels and accordingly generating high-cost permits, should not be adopted by Australia without an international agreement that brings in the big emitters. This isn’t a significantly different position from that of Garnaut, who argues that the trading scheme should adopt Kyoto emission levels initially, then targets based on international agreement, before moving on, in the long-term, to a genuinely ambitious target that will eliminate most of our emissions by mid-century. It may also have been what Nelson was trying, with signal lack of success, to get across on Monday. Given that was the press conference in which he urged Kevin Rudd to become, rather in the manner of the Fantastic Four, a “human blowtorch”, perhaps Nelson was having a bad communication day (the bad hair days are, alas for the Leader of the Opposition, permanent). Hunt, while resisting the opportunity to comment on what other shadow ministers have been saying, also stressed that he and Malcolm Turnbull are running the Coalition’s ETS policy. Yes, he admitted, Nick Minchin — who appears to have licence to comment on any issue that takes his fancy – has a different view on climate change and an ETS. But it’s his and Malcolm’s show, and they’re both absolutely committed to addressing the historical challenge of climate change, through an ETS and supporting measures such as energy efficiency and alternative energy technologies. Hunt is rated highly by many but isn’t that senior in the Coalition’s ranks. He was a Parliamentary Secretary in the former Government, and finds himself at the moderate end of a party that is desperate to get some traction — and a leader to match. Let’s see if he or Nick Minchin are the Coalition’s guiding lights on climate change. |
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9 Comments
Bob, thanks for the references. But its not the sceptics linking weather patterns to alleged Climate Change causality, its the “true believers” like yourself. As I said, the Agriculture Minister, Tony Burke, quoted the meterology patterns predicted by the CSIRO for 2020 as proof positive that drought would become the norm. And that’s nonsense. So you need to start reading a little more broadly than the Green literature they’re feeding you.
please….. this is just another attempt at fear mongering and populous policy on behalf of the opposition. as they have no great difference in standing on the policy to swing votes their way, they are looking to incite fear in the common australian who is already pissed at the great rizes in petrol and grocery prices. and what does fear do? it makes people less rational and less willing to hear the FACTS on issues. we hear it every time nelson or turnbull gets on the box, “it will hurt australian families”. HOW? and then what do u plan to do about it?
I hope that your beloved aunt is in-law rather than consanguineous John James because the IPCC would then predict that you are genetically predisposed to a bad case of gout in the coming decades….
JohnJames, you are one of too many people who think that ‘climate change’ is the same as ‘meterology’. They’re two different things - you might as well argue “I don’t believe high cholesterol causes heart failure because doctors don’t know everything about mental illness.” You really ought to read up on the subject and educate yourself. A good place to start is http://www.eo.ucar.edu/basics/index.html or http://www.begbroke.ox.ac.uk/climate/interface.html
When you’re finished there, you really should check out http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/ This site comprehensively debunks all the arguments of the “climate skeptics”.
Venise> How do you know Bob B is Bob Browne? If you know that Bob B is in fact Bob Browne then you know more than I. I was commenting on the postings of Bob B which if you care to read them are nonsensical. Not in any ‘political’ sense; they just make no sense literally. And please I am not contemptible! Are you? Desist from your personal attacks and enter the debate.
JamesK: Politics is like war, there are some rules which apply. eg Don’t slaughter your opponents generals. Try to retain the moral high-ground etc etc. You have just broken every standard in the book; with your un-funny, crude and tasteless remark about Sen Bob Brown. It ill befits the man who saved the Franklin Dam. If you want to criticize him; be my guest, if you want to mourn John Howard, be my guest; if you want to say that Kevin Rudd is a God-bothering little prick, go for it, swear your head off, fantastic; rant or rave, I’ll be right there with you; but to indulge in gutter jokes and behind the boat -shed giggling you betray a man of conscious. And you reveal yourself as contemptible.
No need for Bob B to be told to ‘blow it out ‘yer arse’.
He already has.
JohnJames says, “Someone who isn’t a scientist is wrong about climate change, therefore scientists are wrong about climate change.” Good going, John, you’ve won me.
Unfortunately there are a lot more than one of your type Bob B, but that does not mean that you are ‘right’. John James is trained in science. Are you?
31,072 American scientists have signed this petition, including 9,021 with PhDs:
“We urge the United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in
Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on
greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and
damage the health and welfare of mankind.
There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other
greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the
Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific
evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the
natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.”
http://www.petitionproject.org/index.htmle
May I recommend some further reading if you are open-minded rather than prejudiced:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/node/7523/print#SlideFrame_1
http://www.weatherquestions.com/Roy-Spencer-on-global-warming.htm#GW10
http://climatesci.org/2008/06/17/guest-weblog-by-dr-kiminori-itoh-of-yokohama-national-university/
http://climatesci.org/main-conclusions/
http://energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=880
http://www.cei.org/pdf/5539.pdf
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/climate-library
http://magna-magnaverse.blogspot.com/2008/07/great-global-warming-hoax.html
http://glowarmers.blogspot.com/2007/05/bjorn-lomberg-and-kyoto-protocals.html
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=D4B5FD23-802A-23AD-4565-3DCE4095C360
http://dreadpundit.blogspot.com/2008/07/flat-screen-tvs-to-destroy-planet.html
http://nzclimatescience.net/index.php
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121486841811817591.html
http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/uah-global-temperature-dives-in-may/
http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/19842304.html
Or perhaps like Connor Moran you prefer grandstanding?
http://nzclimatescience.net/index.php