Environment:

The CDP believes that environmental issues are important because the environment is God-given and sustains life.

Humans have an obligation to responsibly manage the environment and to mitigate, where feasible, environmental change and pollution.

It needs to be remembered that the earth was made for humankind. The environment needs to be kept in perspective as the servant to humankind and not elevated to the point where human lives are sacrificed in favour of preserving the life of some plants or animals. Tragically, this was seen late last century in Africa and Asia with the abrupt cessation in the use of the mosquito control pesticide DDT before adequate alternative controls were in place. As a consequence thousands of human lives were lost to mosquito borne diseases in favour of an attempt to protect some plants and animals from some of the perceived effects of DDT.

Climate Change:

In the current debate, some scientists say that the earth is undergoing a phase of climate change that is dangerously outside its normal warming and cooling cycles.

This climate change, they argue, is both highly undesirable now for its attributed catastrophes today like droughts and, relying on computer model forecasts, they point to future ongoing catastrophes for humankind if it continues.

They see this recent climate change as almost entirely due to humans’ production of green house gases, most notably increased atmospheric CO2 levels caused principally by both the combustion of fossil fuels and the planet’s reduced ability to absorb CO2 as the result of clearing of forests.

However, they also argue these changes may possibly be reversed by humans undertaking dramatic steps immediately to reduce atmospheric levels of green house gases.

On the other hand, other equally reputable scientists argue that the current phase of climate change is nothing new and is not outside the normal range of climate change cycles that have been happening for many years.

The earth has been in the past much warmer and much colder than it is today. These periods of warming and cooling are natural cycles for the earth and not man-made.

For example, as recently as the 14^th century the River Thames regularly froze during winter. Paintings and drawings made at that time show Londoners crossing the Thames by walking on the ice sheet. This period is referred to by climatologists as ‘the little ice age’.

Prior to this there was a period of balmy warming in Europe that contributed to medieval prosperity. Crop yields in Germany and France were above average. Even grapes grew in northern parts of England.

Additionally, climate change, they say, is not and never was driven by CO2 levels. The present theory of CO2 causing global warming does not match the observed facts associated with current global warming.

Even if CO2 is accepted as a driver of climate, humans only produce a small digit percentage of the total CO2 in the atmosphere which is an insignificant contribution to overall atmospheric CO2. Therefore, there is little or nothing that can be done by humans that would be reliably predictable and of certain benefit to affect the current phase of climate change.

Moreover, it should not be automatically assumed that any and all climate change is undesirable. Many changes in the past have been desirable. There is no such thing as an unchanging ideal global climate.

Finally, they argue that our ability to accurately forecast future weather conditions is very unreliable. Current forecast tools are simply not reliable enough. To attribute catastrophic present day and future weather events to climate change is scaremongering.

Media’s Reporting of Climate Change:

Unfortunately much of the media’s reporting of climate change has focused unduly on apocalyptic and alarmist predictions.

Young children have been worried and frightened by media predictions of their futures filled with absolutely certain catastrophic weather events caused by mankind.

Sceptical scientists who do challenge some of the climate change assumptions are much less frequently reported by the media than the supporters of climate change assumptions and dire forecasts.

The climate change debate itself is often characterised as ‘being over’ and ‘virtually all scientists now agree that mankind is entirely to blame as the cause of the recently observed global warming’. Meanwhile many, both inside and outside the scientific community, ask ‘when was there ever any debate in the popular media?’

The CDP:

1. Accepts that the scientific debate around climate change is unresolved and in that sense the CDP remains agnostic in respect to scientific elements of the climate change debate.
2. Is not indifferent to the economic welfare of Australian families, farmers and businesses. CDP will not commit itself to any course of action that is certain to damage economic prosperity if the hoped-for benefits to the environment are uncertain or disproportionately costly.
3. Does not support carbon trading schemes as they are considered futile and create an unnecessary burden on our economy.
4. Does not support Australia being a signatory to the Kyoto protocol.
5. Encourages the development of economic alternatives to fossil fuels and cleaner coal mining technologies.
6. Wants to see a more balanced media treatment of the debate and issues surrounding climate change in school curriculum and the media.
7. Supports a forestry policy that balances sustainable environmental practices with the interests and long term viability ofrural and regional forestry communities.
8. The implementation of viable programs to deal with salt damage to agricultural land.