Questions for Jacinda [Ardern, leader of New Zealand’s Labour Party], the Greens and any other political zealots talking about reduction of “carbon” emissions, by which I guess they mean the trace gas carbon dioxide (CO2) that currently, at 400 ppm represents 0.04% of Earth’s atmosphere from all sources, natural and human-induced.
How do they propose to deal with (a) human emissions of CO2 when each of us exhale, estimated at around an average of 1 kg per day; (b), emissions from volcanoes both above and below the oceans: (c), emissions from sedimentary basins; the combination of which of which greatly exceed CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels in our cars and elsewhere, and from flatulent animals?
And what allowance will they make for the extent to which CO2 as nature’s fertiliser has greened the Earth by an observed 14% since 1979 when satellites gave us the ability to see and measure such changes. For New Zealand alone, an increase of 300 ppm of CO2 in our atmosphere is estimated to increase our pasture production by some 30 per cent, and raise our pastoral sector earnings from their current $28 billion by $8 billion, without taking into account similar productivity gains in horticulture and viticulture.
While they’re at at, will one of them quote just one scientific paper, prepared in the recognised scientific method that proves that emissions of CO2 can or do cause variations in the global climate beyond the range of historically recorded observations. No one, anywhere in the world has yet done so.
Reference:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/opinion/92324200/Doug-Edmeades-Carbon-dioxide-friend-or-foe
Terry Dunleavy MBE
Hauraki, North Shore
New Zealand