The Copenhagen Environment Summit

What a missed opportunity. Not because there was no legally binding agreement but because the focus is on the wrong issues. However, I will start this entry with a cheap, but none-the-less valid point. Whilst we are all being told to reduce our carbon output, what on earth was the carbon footprint of flying hundreds of politicians and their entourages to Denmark? Has no-one heard of video-conferencing? I think our elder statemen need to lead by example.

A study of the Earth's geological history tells us that temperature fluctuations are nothing new. Even the pace of temperature change does have parallels too. History also shows us that methane, not carbon, is the really dangerous greenhouse gas. Extinction Level Events that have been triggered by meteor impacts or volcanic erruptions have released methane into the atmosphere, raising the temperature quickly.

More recent studies also show that the effects of pollution on the atmosphere are reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface. So conversely this is mitigating the effects of global warming. Not that I am suggesting we continue to pollute of course.

There are massive amounts of methane in the sea. A small shift in temperature would see some of this methane released into the atmosphere, with disasterous consequences.

We need to focus on controlling both methane and carbon dioxide. The biggest source of land based methane is cattle. So here we need to think about developing cattle feed that reduces methane. We need to think about reducing our meat consumption. A practical way to do this is to think about population control. It's controversial but necessary. There are only a finite amount of resources to go round. Population growth is out of control.

We have a natural way of dealing with carbon dioxide, trees. We must stop the deforrestation of the planet, and locally, our urban sprawl.

This is where I believe the politicians should have been concentrating. But this is too big an issue for national governments, we need a global supra-national organisation to manage and monitor our planet, before it's too late. Climate change is inevitable, how we deal with it, is not.