The Department of Climate Change base their case for Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW), now referred to as ‘Climate Change’, on an uncritical acceptance of the IPCC’s Reports. Claims are made that these findings are supported by a ‘consensus’ of scientists and scientific opinion.
 
This however is increasingly not the case as literally thousands of peer reviewed and published papers and many thousands of highly respected scientists, including some who contributed to the IPCC Reports, are now concerned that these findings lack an adequate or convincing scientific base.

Despite the expenditure of over $50 billion to find evidence that man-induced greenhouse gasses are the primary cause of the current warming, not one piece of empirical evidence in support of this theory has been found.
 
The infamous ‘Hockey Stick Graph’ (Mann et al.) has been comprehensively discredited and has been removed by the IPCC from their 4th Report. It is therefore surprising to still find it in the government’s section on the scientific justification of ‘Climate Change’.
 
Likewise the claims that temperature has historically over the last 650,000 years moved in close relationship with levels of CO2 in the atmosphere is disingenuous. The Vostok and other ice core data clearly show that there is an average 800-year lag time between temperature rise and the subsequent increase in CO2 levels. This clearly indicates that CO2 was not the cause of the warming but resulted naturally from it, and that the peak levels CO2 reached did not inhibit the subsequent coolings that occurred.
 
There is much evidence that warming has occurred and that CO2 (and other greenhouse gasses) have increased, but no evidence to link the two. There are other valid explanations.
 
The IPCC (and the Australian Government) are therefore relying solely on computer models to justify their stand. While these models have improved, it is nevertheless widely accepted that they are incapable of predicting future climate. Even the IPCC agree.
 
And even Houghton says, “The fact that the mean global temperature has increased since the late 19th century and that other trends have been observed does not necessarily mean that an anthropogenic effect on the climate has been identified. Climate has always varied on all time-scales, so the observed change may be natural” (Chapter 1 of Houghton et al 2001).
 
Climate models are ‘uncertain’ about the effect of clouds on temperature and entirely ignore the influence of the varying magnetic flux of the sun and its effect on world climate, amongst many other shortcomings.
 
The world has failed to warm over the last decade, despite rapidly escalating levels of CO2. This fact alone should be cause to at least check the facts before implementing far reaching new policies designed to ‘mitigate’ climate change.
 
But the reasons are much broader than this and the consequences for both the Australian population and the Government from ‘getting it wrong’ are so great that it would be both wise and prudent to at least comprehensively and openly check the science before implementing these measures.
 
Finally, even if Australia entirely eliminated its emissions (impossible), China alone last year increased its emissions by more than our total, effectively negating all Australian actions and making them a costly exercise in futility.
 
Ian McClintock
COOTAMUNDRA NSW 2590