Allow me to make some mildly provocative statements — all of which I can justify.

  1. All climate models are wrong, and not one has yet made a correct prediction of substance (other than by pure chance).
  2. Peak oil and energy shortages will be a threat to our survival long before climate change.
  3. Shortages of food, water and arable land will be a threat to our survival long before climate change.
  4. Worldwide, the only things that can reduce CO2 are coal (don’t use it) and deforestation (don’t do it).
  5. For Australia, the only thing that can reduce CO2 is to close all the coal mines.
  6. The main purpose of a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme is to double/treble the price of electricity and petrol.
  7. The other purpose is give governments more power and/or make rich people/criminals/bankers richer.

I am not particularly sceptical about climate change itself, so much as the excessive claims made especially by non-scientists. Rising CO2 levels and associated climate change are certainly major problems, but that does not mean any of the specific predictions are correct. We need to buy insurance, not guard against a specific outcome. Mainly, we have to treat energy, forests, water and other resources as finite and aim for reduced consumption and genuine sustainability. That is simply not happening.

By the way, these are not the messages that the militant eco-freaks want you to hear.