Australia, like many countries, has been having a political debate on Climate Change. In Australia we have two major parties and a few independents. In this situation, the independents hold the balance of power. One such independent–Senator Steven Fielding–has come out as a sceptic of climate change and has asked a number of questions regarding climate change that he says are both unanswered and unanswerable.
This prompted me to post the following to his forums (a scary place, it turn out!):
Dear Senator Fielding,
I commend you and your researchers to take up a subscription to New Scientist.
Careful reading of this magazine over a period of time will (I believe) give you a fair and balanced appreciation of the observations and effects that are now taking place on this planet, along with several proposed theories and mechanisms that are being put forward to attempt to explain these observations and effects.
I have been a subscriber to this magazine for many years and am truly frightened by what I have been reading. I believe that we MUST act to curb our greenhouse gas emmisions immediately. The consequences of failure are simply unthinkable.
Senator Fielding, please take the time to review New Scientist’s coverage on Climate Change. I would like to suggest the following as helpful:
http://www.newscient … topic/climate-change
http://www.newscient … -climate-change.html
http://www.newscient … r-the-perplexed.htmlIf New Scientist is not for you, or you would like to review the material from additional sources, then perhaps you would like to review
the coverage of other publications, such as:http://www.scientifi … g-and-climate-change
http://www.scidev.ne … e-change-and-energy/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/Senator Fielding: I believe that the time for doubting climate change is over. The Science is in. The remaining questions are: what can we do about this threat, and precisely what will happen to us if we don’t respond appropriately.
Please do not take any action that might delay Australia’s response to this threat.
I had to try!
I am guessing that he is probably more than a little playing to his gallery, rather than actually engaging with the topic itself…he is a representative of the rather right-wing “family first” group, after all (anyone remember One Nation? Family First is the spiritual heir…slightly more grown up but still a few bales short of a haystack).
Sen. Fielding has apparently made up his mind since I posted to his forum, and done what any good politician does when faced with the possibility of being proven wrong: he has moved the goalposts. Quote:
…Mr. Fielding issued a statement: He would not be voting for the bill. He would not risk job losses on “unconvincing green science.” The bill is set to founder as the Australian parliament breaks for the winter.
So now the science is not unanswerable but ‘unconvincing’…as if he were qualified to judge! Still, by raising the spectre of job losses he manages to keep his constituency happy.
Sad. very sad.
This in a country that is increasingly wracked by drought and where the warning signs are right under one’s nose!
