Last night the environment secretary David Miliband was on Newsnight to explain the future CO2 reduction targets set out by the government of the UK. Asked if emissions trading would go ahead he explained that it could happen that one country might buy spare emissions from another but that this was OK because it doesn't matter if a tonne of CO2 is emitted here or there. How does the minister know this for sure? Has he studied global airflow patterns and concluded that CO2 dispersal does not depend upon the release location? Is he certain that there are no special release locations which might lead to pockets or bands of high CO2 density in crucial areas of the upper atmosphere?
This is the sort of hand waving science that derails the global warming argument. The document published in February by the IGPCC showed that the climate is changing and it considered many factors that might be helping/causing this process, one of which was CO2 emissions caused by human activity. There could be many reasons why the climate is changing (such as changes in the sun) and they all need to be considered objectively. Politicians need to let the scientists check everything and gather as much data as is needed before they come down on either side. There are those who believe that there is a conspiracy to hold back the economies of developing nations such as China and India by restricting their emissions. Others believe evidence is suppressed or not considered. When scientific data becomes a political football for liberals/capitalists then objectivity is suppressed.
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