From my readings and rather cynical knowledge of how governments work, I believe the the climate change debate has been hijacked to be come a scheme for increasing personal taxation. Think about the multiple carbon credit schemes out there and the direct taxation laws in relational to industrial co2 emissions ... and then ask yourself ... what's happening to all the money. Are huge plantations being planted to absorb all this extra carbon? Has this taxation stopped global de-forestation? Sadly no. Tax is being collected, both directly and indirectly but its not being used to save the planet, baring putting up a few posters and producing a couple of slick eco-movies.
That is not to say that the environment is unimportant, but realistically until all nations get onboard (China and India in particular) and money is spend saving areas like the Amazon Rain Forrest or those in Indonesia, it's rather a pointless discuss being done at the moment ... and I might add, actually economically unfair to those businesses (competition wise) who already paying this bill, in an attempt to do the right thing.
While I do confess that we are collectively are having a environmental impact on this earth, in all the realms of the biosphere, but as to the actually degree humans are responsible for the climate change we are seeing, I'm not so convinced we are totally to blame for the following reasons.
Firstly, solar output is not always nominal. By that I mean, the amount of radiation from our sun is not stable. The Sun actually does have cycles both in the short term (as seen by sun spot activity caused by the twisted magnetic lines punching through the sun's Chromosphere) and the deep pulsations found in its convection layers. Varying solar output therefore must effect the Earth's energy intake, which naturally would effect global climate trends. An interesting time period to consider in the regard was the mini ice age of 1300 to 1850AD and the global warm period before that, which started well be the beginning of the Europe's industrial revolution.
Additionally, we must also recognize that due to our relative short manufacturing age (geologically speaking), I do feel that our impact is overstated a bit. In one study, written by a notable Australian CSIRO environmental scientist (in a effort to ban nuclear weapons), produced data to confirm a global winter from a nuclear war would last between 5 to 10 years. And as devastating as that may be, the burning from thousands of nuclear explosions would be needed to produce it. Now I'm not that much in the know, but I don't think that the pollution humans has made is anywhere near the levels of that kind of event, and so I believe that our personal "sweat level" in the climate debate could be toned down a bit, for more reasonable conversations to be had.
Finally, Earth's climate has always changed and always will. Whether its finding fossilized conifers in the Antarctic or Mammoths in the Russian tundra, regional long term weather patterns do shift. Why even the deserts of Africa and Egypt were once tropical. Why? Geologically there have been many reasons over time. The Earth's axis shifts, the Earth's magnetic poles shift (which effects the Magnetosphere and thus the climate), and there has been periods of increased volcanic actively ... and so on. And so, its not unreasonable to see evidence of changes to the global environment.
Now, ice coring (one of the most useful method of environmental change) does show atmospheric increases in both co2 and particle emissions during or modern age ... but at the end of it ... while we humans must reduce our global footprint, I believe a more calmer attitude should prevail about our impending doom and focus instead on the where our carbon tax dollars are going. Because at the end of the day, I recon that they are just going into our government's general revenue, rather than the environment.
no zombie
PS ... just some references which you can find free online in some places, if you're keen
Climate Change in Prehistory - The End of the Reign of Chaos by Burroughs
Antarctica - A Keystone in a Changing World by 10th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences
Sunquakes - Probing the Interior of the Sun by Zirker
Beyond Darkness - Nuclear Winter in Australia and New Zealand by Pittock
and read up about the mini ice age ... its quite interesting.
