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June 5 World Environment Day: climate criminal Australia & US have 2 to 5 years to cease GHG pollution

7 June 2011, 03:35, by Dr Gideon Polya

The comment by Dr I.R.C. is seriously mistaken on several key points.

1. Photosynthesis does indeed increase at higher CO2 concentrations in a glass house with proper watering and temperature control. . However in the field an increase of 1 degree Centigrade in temperature means a 10% decrease in wheat grain production. In coastal areas, increased temperature, increased tropical storm intensity and storm surges (already being experienced in the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Bengal) results in loss of land through inundation and salinization. Yes there will be some winners (in the temperate zone, provided it does not get too hot) but global warming represents a huge threat to global food supply, especially in tropical, sub-tropical and coastal regions.

2. Australia (population 22 million, World population 7 billion, several hundred thousand immigrants to Australia per year) does not significantly "relieve population pressure in other countries". Indeed, by way of example, Australia’s annual per capita GHG pollution is 71 times that of Bangladesh and so a Bengali going to live in Australia immediately increases his annual per capita GHG pollution by a huge factor of 71 (equivalent in a global sense to 71 more mouths to feed back in Bengal).

3. Warming up "for human habitation" parts that are "too cold" , e.g. as in the Arctic, is devastating for the ecosystems and ultimately for the Planet as methane is released from methane clathrates in the melting tundra and in shallow Arctic Sea sea-floor deposits (already happening, and noting that methane has 105 times the global warming potential of CO2 on a 20 year timeframe and taking aerosol impacts into account).