The proposed carbon tax that the Gillard government has put forward, which will come into effect mid 2012 has been a topic of hot debate.

1. THE CARBON TAX- THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT.
The proposed carbon tax that the Gillard government has put forward, which will come into effect
mid 2012 has been a topic of hot debate. However, while a political debate is necessary to discuss
possible economic effects, the science behind it is often over looked. Yes, we've all heard about
global warming, the greenhouse effect, and rising sea levels. And yes, most people have their own
beliefs and judgements on the severity or even existence of the problem. However, to have a
reasonable political debate about the carbon tax, it is important to examine some of the evidence
and reasons that cause the vast majority of environmental scientists to be in agreement that human
inflicted climate change is real, severe, and threatening to our existence. If we do not curb our
carbon emissions, we are heading for an increasingly dangerous and unpredictable climate in the
future, and that is the point of the tax. To act now before things get out of control.
A common rebuttal that is offered against global warming is that the
world's climate is always changing, and there have been periods in the
past of equal global temperature. Both these points are true. Planet
earth does endure a changing global average temperature, partly based
on our orbit patterns around the sun, and yes, in Medieval and Roman
times it seems to have been almost as warm as it currently is.
However, the reason people are worried about global warming is the
rate of warming that we are currently experiencing, which is 1 degree
per 100 years. Such a rate is much larger than scientists believe we
have seen for the past 1300 years, so again, future climate is the
concern.
The reason the rate of warming is a scary factor is because many of earth's climate systems work on
what is known as positive feedback. What this means is that an initial change in climate is
continually amplified, or in other words, warming leads to more warming which leads to more
warming. For example, the polar ice sheets are a major source of reflection of solar radiation,
helping to cool our climate. The more the ice sheets melt, the less ice there is too reflect solar
radiation, which leads to warmer air temperature, which leads to more melting...and the process
continues.
Therefore while the current rate of global warming is believed to be the biggest we've ever
experienced, this rate will continue to exponentially rise, and with this we will see rising sea levels
and a changing environment that can be very dangerous to human existence. For example we may
be looking at 'Black Saturday' type weather more often in the future. Positive feedback works not
only for the ice polar ice sheets, it also works in terms of greenhouse gas atmospheric
concentrations. The warmer the atmosphere is, there more greenhouse gasses it can hold, which
leads to further warming, which leads to more green house gasses being held in the atmosphere, and
the cycle continues. These positive feedback cycles work together to increase the effect of each
other, and continue to warm our planet at increasing rates. Without intervention they will spiral out
of control, and that's our responsibility- intervention.
Another point that divides people on climate change is the question of wether its humans causing
the green house gas increases or wether it's a naturally occurring process. Atmospheric greenhouse
gas concentrations now far exceed pre industrial values, suggesting a human influence.
Furthermore, atmospheric oxygen decreases match atmospheric carbon dioxide increases. This can
be explained by the fact that when we burn fossil fuels, carbon binds to oxygen (creating carbon
dioxide), suggesting that the burning of fossil fuels that is having a major impact on greenhouse gas
concentrations in the atmosphere, as well as reducing oxygen levels in the atmosphere. ( Read Rest
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