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Climate change is an important issue and citizens expect that their governments should enact sensible policies that counteract the deleterious effects of it. Having said that, let's first summarize my understanding of climate change before tackling the topic under consideration.

1. Contrary to the views of most media reporters and politicians, climate change is nothing new. Anybody with a good background knowledge of geology will know that climate change has always been with us and always will be. It is the result of natural processes (over 4.5 billion years) and we are fortunate to be living on this dynamic planet situated in an evolving solar system. We can and have in the past coped well with climate change. Human beings are the most adaptable and creative creatures on earth.

2. It is a fact that bad science results in bad policy that results in bad outcomes. In other words, you have to get your background science correct before letting the politicians go off and formulate climate change policies. It should be mandatory for all involved politicians to pass at least Chemistry 101 at Uni, and for good measure, Economics 101. Why not check out your pollies?

3. The idea that atmospheric CO2 gas is a POLLUTANT is BULL. My dictionary definition of pollutant is "something that contaminates or defiles the environment", and "bull" is "a nonsense, or excessive exaggeration". In reality, CO2 is a vital part of our atmosphere and the well being of our biosphere depends upon it. Plants and forests fix CO2 or carbon into their structure and by the process of photosynthesis liberate oxygen, which we humans breath. The observed gradual increase of atmospheric CO2 (said to be 1 or 2 ppm per year) is a good thing for the biosphere and humanity for it increases crop and forest growth rates, besides being quite harmless, and enjoyable. We eat it (bread), drink it (beer and sparkling wine), breath it all the time, so how can CO2 be a pollutant? Ask the plants what they think about it!

3. The current public concern (mainly media generated) about the supposed need to reduce CO2 emissions by the Government enacting draconian policies of "carbon emissions trading schemes" and "carbon taxes" I believe falls into the category of eco-religious and political nonsense. Such policies are using bad science and will cause untold harm to the economy. In the long term, if pursued, they could well destroy our Western civilization.

4. The big stick in all this is the scare tactic that unless we

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