Just when I thought that the climate change debate had finished I read Harry Creamer’s letter (Joining the dots on climate change and extreme weather, Your letters, February 16) about the government’s stance on “carbon pollution’.
Does he have to rub our noses in the fact that we are stuck with a carbon tax? As far as I am concerned global warming started in the 70s when they incorrectly predicted the onslaught of another ice-age. The warmer weather has continued almost 40 years and we have been experiencing cooler and wetter temperatures over the last few years (I have checked temperatures on the internet in Sydney, the Camden Haven and other places in Australia for several years).
I’d like to remind Mr Creamer that there have previously been floods and natural disasters in Australia and overseas and we are not experiencing anything more extreme than what has occurred in centuries past.
Mr Creamer states that at the Durban conference “all other countries in the United Nations are committed to come up with plans to make sufficient cuts to their pollution levels to keep global warming to just two degrees”. I checked out a few websites which stated that the US, India, China and Brazil were opposing parts of the solution sought by the EU and the majority of developing countries. The US and EU agreed on a “legal instrument applicable to all parties” which is weaker than a “legally binding’ commitment.
Another website VOA News.com states in its article titled, World Leaders Seek End to Climate Talk Gridlock:
“But several parties that had enacted the Kyoto protocol have indicated they will not sign on for another term, including Japan, Russia and Canada. The Unites States never adopted the agreement and has ruled out any legally binding deals for now.”
In other words they are procrastinating and do not have any real intention of combatting climate change.
Lesley Chapman
