The " Unbelievers " !

Probably the man highest on the power totem pole who totally debunks global warming would be the United States President, but close behind him would come a former Australian Prime Minister.  Tony Abbott is out of office and out of parliament but he has chosen to make a speech to the American Heritage Foundation which is an ultra conservative think tank.

He aired his view that the link between extreme weather events and carbon emissions  has become akin to religious dogma for many people.  According to this point of view the burning of coal and oil and the carbon dioxide that releases has nothing to do with the retreat of ice at the poles, the melting of glaciers or the rise of ocean levels.

This is a view he constantly parroted when he was prime minister, much to the delight of the oil and coal consortium which protect their industries by deploying huge amounts of money on the advertising industry to throw down a challenge to what the scientific world is telling us.  Mr Abbott is a serving member of the volunteer Rural Fire Service and recently saw action helping to fight the massive bush fires that caused death and destruction in many parts of Australia.

This is an election year in America and Mr Abbott not only debunks global warming he also seems to have adopted President Trump by virtually endorsing him for a second term.   If Trump succeeds in winning the November election that virtually ensures that there will be no American action to slow climate change for another four years, and it is America that must act if other nations are to move in concert to make this happen.

There are two solutions that could very quickly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we are emitting.  If by law we enhance the move from oil burning internal combustion engines to electric cars world wide we would sharply reduce the demand for oil as a car fuel.
The other opportunity awaits in reducing coal as a means of generating electricity.  Some parts of the world are building new coal fired power stations as a necessity to serve their growing populations. Wind and solar are now taking an ever increasing share of the load and nuclear technology is now sufficiently advanced that it can replace coal to provided the base load.  What little risk remains is something we need to accept if we are to save the planet.

These two measures would not entirely stop global warming, but together they would reduce the use of two reasons that carbon dioxide is making this a hotter world, and both are within our reach if the will for change is strong enough.

That will is being reduced by people like Trump and Abbott peddling nonsense that contrasts with scientific reasoning.