They have gone very quiet. Maybe it's something to do with the terrible flooding and bush fires we have had recently.

Still here- I am only sceptical that it is entirely man-made, I think climates change naturally, and man is just helping the efforts along.

I don't think anyone has ever argued climate change is 'entirely' man made. The debate is what impact human actions are having on the recent period of warming.

Spoiler alert.

Earths Climate has always been dynamic.

The argument is how much impact man has made on this. Personally I'm certain it's negligible.

If we were pumping oxygen out into the Atmosphere at the same rate as we have Carbon then possibly would have some serious worries on our hands.

Thats one thing this pseudo nouveau religion debate has taught me.... We are worried about the wrong climate effect.

I think we are having a big impact on climate change and I consider that our actions are speeding things up. Yes, climate change has been dynamic but we have been on the earth for a fraction of geological time and there have been periods in geological history where humans would struggle to survive.

he most worrying thing is that when I was doing my Geology degree the lecturers explained that it takes around 100 years for the effects of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere to be felt.

Regardless of whether you are a sceptic or not, it's hard to deny that humans have had a severe detrimental impact on our planet (e.g. pollution, urban sprawl, deforestation, species extinction etc).

You are so right. We need to be worrying more about the stupidity of building in flood plains and failing to adapt to bush living by taking appropriate precautions (because we arent allowed to for fear of decimating the population of green toed spotted geckos), failing to take into account growing populations and their infrastructure needs etc. The CO2 religion is diverting attention away from where it really needs to be - adaptation to a climate we know changes drastically and always has. This is NOT a new phenomenon, we have had floods and fires before and just as bad except not with the same population density.

As the evidence grows that we are in fact heading into a period of significant cooling, we should be a darn sight more worried about the effect that will have. Another mini ice age wouldnt be my choice.

What evidence would this be? The global cooling myth has been around since the 1970s.

So have yer clothes

But whenever there is a disaster on theis scale they compare it to "The great flood of '74" And with the bushfires....compared to Black Friday in 1934 etc etc, its happened before....so is it global warming? cooling? Or mother nature being a big beatch?

Brisbane's Major Floods

* 1841 - 8.4m
* 1844 - 7m
* 1864 - 3.8m
* 1887 - 3.8m
* 1889 - 3.8m
* 1890 - 5.3m
* 1893 - 8.3m
* 1907 - 3.5m
* 1974 - 5.45m

Interesting stats there.

it's impossible to determine whether individual weather events are caused by global warming, however, the increasing intensity/frequency of global events is a major concern.

Or is it with global media we now know what is happening everywhere? 300 years ago what was happening in around the world, a flood in Aus,an earthquake in NZ, a Tsunami in Indonesia who (in the west)would know?

Possibly for the general public. But scientists have been studying climatology for thousands of years.

Like living in Queensland and not building a house on stilts....

Geologists....

'Natural disaster' (for want of a beter term) history is easy enough to study if you know what to look for.

Hence the relevant scientists know about things like devasting yellowstone supervolcanic activity thas only blown a handful of times in the last 2.1 million years. No human have observed an eruption directly - but the evidence is irrefutable.

I'm sure the same is true of major flood events (which leave significant deposits) - they can be measured restrospectively without anyone having observed them.


Having said that, I agree with your sentiment one reason the world seems so utterly f*&ked up at the moment is we all get to hear about every 'newsworthy' event - and now in glorious HD technicolour to make things as dramatic as possible.



(Office operating perfectly normally and everyone present here at work today in Brisbane.... no need for hystrical over-reactions!)