Hi Tony,

Just want to say I love your photos,articles and blog. Really enjoyed the thailand videos too.

Didnt really get this article though?

Regarding global warming,I agree the debate should carry on so we can learn even more about it. But we should also acknowledge what we do know and not let the conspiracey theorists and people pushing denial to keep going over the same old flawed arguments. That kind of debate should be well and truly over.

Kind regards

Ross

Hi Ross,

Thanks!

What I’m trying to get across is that no debate should ever be over. Everyone has a right to their opinion, though obviously, some opinions carry more weight than others in any given situation.

I have a problem whenever anyone declares any debate “over” or any issue beyond question. The history of humanity is filled with such consensus views, which in the long term proved to be dead wrong.

With respect to global warming and related issues, I don’t believe the debate is as simple and straightforward as it’s often made out to be in the popular media. Conspiracy theorists and the like abound on both sides of the argument, so my point is that it’s better to get facts and analyse objectively. More importantly, we need to avoid making value judgements and launching ad hominem attacks, which unfortunately all-too-often seems to be accepted behaviour.

For instance, I was dead set against biofuels when they were all the rage about a year ago…not because I’m a denier or what have you, but because the arguments for biofuels (at least in current form) didn’t stack up. And yet, the popular tide carried through legislation and other activity around the world that pushed for razing land, supplanting virgin forests in order to plant palm crops, mandating food crops be replaced with fuel crops, and so forth.

The question isn’t really whether conspiracy theorists are right or wrong. It’s whether we’re collectively intelligent and mature enough to ignore conspiracy theorists of every persuasion, and figure out the right thing to do.

Cheers,

Tony

Hi Tony,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

Definetley I agree 100%.

The thing with this huge issue is the evidence to support the anthropogenic warming theory is overwhelming. Every major scientific institution in the world is in agreement on it, there is a mountain of peer reviewed papers that support it.I think the big questions/debate is whats going to happen as temperatures rise.

I think when people have said the debate is over its in the context of having the same old arguments thrown around, for examaple the solar flares,natural variation,”they got it wrong before” (global cooling). to name a few. the science has debunked these myths many times, but so many people repeat them over and over again. i think thats when the “debate is over” speech comes out, in sheer frustration I suppose.

Yep, bio fuels are the biggest greenwash going. big business got behind them,and then governments did to,as they seem to sit firmly in big business pockets. palm oil was big business in se asia,but now with the bio fuel rush its gone crazy. :-

peace out

ross

I’ve lost the last bit of my message? I’ll retype it here….

Borneo is being turned into one big plantation,and ive heard worrying reports about papua. im sure you have seen the devastion first hand on your travels. Those peatlands they log,drain and burn release more co2 that could ever be saved from using a bio fuel, it would take hundreds of year to get anywhere near being carbon neutral. then theres the devastion to bio-diversity. not good. alot of well known NGO’s have been campaigning against these damaging bio fuels for a few years now,since the rush for bio fuel began.

i think the right thing to do is to start cutting emmisions. sorting our electricty generation and stopping deforestion would be a great start and a huge chunk, then we could progress from there.

who knows what will happen?

all i do know is you have to keep taking those beautiful photos!

peace out

ross

Oh! very nice