Use green paper if you must

Quadrant contributor John Reid, a physicist with a PhD in Upper Atmospheric Physics, has taken the Prime Minister at his word and responded to the request for submissions on setting a post-2020 target for greenhouse gas emissions:

“…there is no scientific basis for introducing an emissions scheme. There may well be a political basis for doing so if we do not wish to be seen as an environmental pariah internationally. In which case we should chose the most conservative commitment such as parity with that of, say, China.

However it should be borne in mind that the present “Pause” in global temperature increase could, over the next decade, turn into a full decline and further confound the experts. Likewise the observed steady increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentration may cease or even reverse. In either event, taking an independent line on this issue could serve us well in the long term.”

John’s full submission can be read here.

No doubt, given the nature of rent-seekers and the career imperatives of academics bent on paying mortgages and securing a nice room at the upcoming Catastropharian Confest in Paris, Mr Abbott’s in-box will be overflowing with missives from self-interested parties.

Follow the link below to lodge your own submission. Who knows, after their bonding session on Lateline the other night, Tony Jones may be helping Tim Flannery lodge a submission that explains why, any day now, Perth will finally become a ghost town and the rains will never fall again. Given the critical mass of idiocies that must be pouring in, the counterbalance of sane submissions must surely be appreciated.

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