Let's not forget the energy it takes to make an aircraft. It uses some of the rarest metals on Earth, which take a huge amount of processing to become parts of the airframe, electrics, hydraulics, fuel and engines. When all that's factored in, it's maybe a different picture. I'm not saying aviation is as black as it is painted, but it's CO2 usage is not just flying.
And how I agree with Glypo - there are so many other things that vary, some of which we don't understand that well. What about solar flares, the Van Allen belts, and the oceans to add to Glypo's list. Oceans emit the largest amount of CO2 by far, dwarfing what man manages. What's the impact of that? And there is some very challenging thinking by people who refute Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" film about what he doesn't tell you.
I don't think it is a good idea to mindlessly consume the natural resources of the Earth, nor that we couldn't all consume a little less whether taxed or not. But to simplify the problem down to one thing, and then amplify the rhetoric to drown out anything else isn't a good way to proceed IMHO.
My response to the one-issue Green lobby, and all the CO2 maniacs is this...
If I do as you tell me to make the Earth cooler, what is the climate going to go back to? Will it be to the same as the 1800s, the 15th century when the Thames froze over, or the Ice Age? Please tell me what the climate will be when I've done as you ask me.
...and I have yet to have a reply that goes beyond "Um... er... oh... That's not the point." For me, it's very much the point...
Wonderful site Bodgit, thanks for the link!
