Wednesday 4th April, 2012

Nonsense argument on carbon could lead to catastrophe

Ignorance is a bottomless pit when it comes to arguments about the carbon tax. If you don't like the policy, that's one thing, but to spout nonsense is quite another. The letter from Lee Rich on April 3 is a case in point. It trots out a variation on the argument:  "Carbon dioxide isn't a bogeyman - is a natural part of life." Furthermore, goes the argument, there's only a tiny bit of it about. From that, I guess we're supposed to believe that if it's natural and there's not much of it, we shouldn't get our knickers in a knot.

Yes, carbon dioxide is a natural part of life. Yes, we're only talking about a tiny percentage of total atmospheric gases. What climate scientists from organisations such as NASA and the CSIRO are telling us is this: The proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, stable for hundreds of thousands of years, is now rising. Yes, we need carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases for their global warming effect. Without greenhouse gases, we'd be like little plants left out in the snow. We'd freeze over. But we don't need too much. If we get too hot, we're be in trouble as well. Like Goldilocks' porridge, the proportion of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere needs to be "just right" for humanity to flourish. Over the entire period of human history the earth has had about 275 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Recently, though, that proportion has gone up to 391 parts per million (and rising at about 2ppm per year), the result of rising carbon emissions since the beginning of the industrial revolution. As a result, the planet's average surface temperature is rising. The results could be catastrophic. As a certain prime minister once said, this is the greatest moral challenge facing this generation. Obscurantism is not helping.

Tracy Sorensen is a member of Bathurst Community Climate Action Network (BCCAN). Visit www.bccan.org.au