Australia ratifies the Kyoto Protocol - and implements it how, exactly?

Simply forcing our economy into deep recession, chasing an impossible ideal, is not a policy option that an elected government could follow. To do so would see them decimated at the polls and encourage the rise of parties whose simple message would be to get economic activity rolling again and damn the protocol.

For my part, I see the whole problem as being hopelessly overblown anyway as physical evidence from around the world contradicts the gloomy outputs of the models. Simply citing the opinions of assorted scientists, even distinguished ones, counts for nothing if their dire predictions are not supported by observed evidence.

For example, the claim that the world has been heating up during the past 25 years is based on thermometer data from over-heated cities, over-heated airports, and countries with little competence in weather observations or instrumentation. By contrast, the same measurement of global temperature taken from satellites show an entirely different picture of very little warming at all over that period. Where surface measurements are made in developed OECD countries away from cities and airports, we find a suprising lack of warming. We are warned about the Antarctic warming up, but recent scientific studies show the bulk of the Antarctic continent to be cooling, with a net buildup of ice. We are warned about glaciers receding, but many of the glaciers 'selected' for detailed study are subject to volcanic activity such as the ones in Iceland and Ecuador, while a receding glacier in Mexico happens to lie on the slopes of Mexico's most active volcano. Many glaciers around the world are advancing, contrary to what one would expect in a supposedly warming world. We are warned about more extreme weather events, with not a shred of observed evidence to show any increase in the incidence of tornadoes, hurricanes, storms etc. What we do have is a dramatic increase in the reportage of such events.

My website ('Still Waiting for Greenhouse' www.john-daly.com ) has been running since 1996 and now has amassed a mountain of solid observed evidence to show that the dire predictions made by environmentalists and some scientists simply do not stack up when subject to proper critical scrutiny, and it is for this reason that I advocate a `no regrets' approach to emissions policy. This means we should only undertake measures that are beneficial in their own right regardless of their supposed effect on climate. For example, tighter emission standards on cars benefits us all by making city air cleaner.

By contrast, the Kyoto Protocol would give us massive pain for no gain whatsoever.