The best recyclers I knew were my grandparents - they lived through the depression and re-using things. They didn't ask for a medal. Maybe that's it. It should be part of things, not a special thing. If we fail, we die out and the earth will find another species to change it a bit more.

Some of the housing solutions that Robert Dalton proposed sound fascinating but the first challenge is getting info out about this to the average householder, in a way that allows them to separate real solutions from expensive green marketing gimmicks.

The benefits (environmental or otherwise) of riding pushbikes are relatively well-known, even if they don't get the takeup they deserve. On the other hand, how many people know about trombe walls or reflectors? People can't act to implement these solutions if they don't know about them, so the first issue is one of communication.

Robert, if you (or anyone else) can recommend any websites that have good info about how to retrofit existing houses using the methods that you've suggested, I'd love to hear about it (as a homeowner who'd like to put some of suggestions into practice). Obviously I can Google it but often it's quicker to get advice from someone who has a bit of background knowledge :)

Tim,

The fastest way to get rid or minimize global warming is to reduce coal fired power stations and move to solar energy and other forms of renewables. I just cant see any Australians giving up eating meat and becoming vegetarian which we all know would help the situation as beef production causes huge energy loses and much more. I really feel that the big 6 cylinder cars that arent fuel efficient should be made more expensive to register at a state level. This would also help.

Some people won't change unless you give them a reason to, others won't until you force them to. Some because we choose to.

While it's relatively easy to adopt a new mind-set (in my experience), communication of the issues and choices continue to be in-effective (in my generation and those before me anyway, not sure about school-age youth).

For instance, as an owner builder planning to build my own home (and looking at what others are building) I have studied much literature about efficient houses but more importantly efficient living. Being in a fringe area electricity can be unreliable, I have no town water, no sewerage services, no rubbish collection, no public transport.

These very things lacking in rural area's are what city dwellers (the majority) have little appreciation of, and are contributing significantly to climate change. More importantly they are within our control for change and improvement.

Making a conscious decision to examine your options, the costs to you, costs to the environment and the benefits to the economy is the only way to make the rights choices to suit you and your family.

If you must 'consume' (like most of us seem to be inherently good at), buying products based on simple criteria can have an enormous effect. You'd be surprised how acting with your wallet can have an effect. For instance buying products of quality that last, that are produced locally, that are Australian owned, that are recyclable and that are appropriate for what you're using them for.

This is a matter of fundamental social change, and should be engineered via legislation to enforce better habits by the majority. Legislation needs to be amended to encourage good behaviour and punish bad behaviour.

BBBaz, most photovoltaics come with 20-30 year warranties. I don't know why you think they would need replacing every 5 years - that's incorrect. Most PV is made by companies who are in it for the long term and their products are extremely reliable; most solar panels made 20 years ago still work, and even if the manufacturing methods used then are headed for obsolescence - they're much cheaper to make now - the panels made then are still working fine. As for energy return on investment, reputable studies have shown the energy return to pay back manufacturing and installation at under five years for older technologies and as low as 2years for newer ones. I'm not sure about including links here, but the US Brookhaven National Laboratory's publication - "Photovoltaics Energy Payback Times, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and External Costs: 2004–early 2005 Status" - shows energy payback time of around 2 years for pv installations in southern Europe.
You might want to look at cost trends for nuclear as well as renewables - renewables have a sustained history of ever dropping costs, near now to parity with coal fired for wind and solar thermal as well as PV, but nuclear is looking at rising costs, so much so that even with guarantees from the US gov't on investments in nukes the costs are considered prohibative. When the anti-proliferation security costs as well as waste disposal and cleanup of nukes are considered, investment in renewables with an eye to longer term improved grid and thermal and compressed air storage looks a sound and sensible choice.

Bit of a stereotypical response for a greenies forum, but permaculture hemp, rail infrastructure, town planning laws changed so houses can be only energy efficient, more renewable energy.

Governments could pass a low to ban all advertising lights between ... say 1am and 7am. I get frustrated by trying to save on power usage in my home when I know that cities and towns have advertising signs blinking and flashing all night. One huge coca cola sign would probably use more in one night that I would use in 1 month. No one would really be disadvantaged ... companies would just find somewhere else to spend their advertising dollar, huge amounts of energy would be saved and people living in cities would have the added advantage of seeing the night sky. It's a win win ... and most of all a win for the planet. The politition that has the guts to do this would be seen as a hero/ine.

Climate change has always occurred. It's controlled by the sun. You can't fight it no matter what you do.

Like every other species we are subject to the whims of our environment. Unlike the other animals we can predict and prepare for the inevitable. Predicting the effect of climate change requires knowing which way the climate will change - cooler or warmer. Whilst it may wobble a bit over the short term (ie decades), in the longer term (ie many centuries) it is almost certain to get much colder next and we're looking at another Ice-age since the planet is overdue for one (based on geological evidence).

People who want to scare you, or want to "save the planet", or make money out of scare stories, or who have built a political career by pandering to the tree huggers (not naming any names of course) will try to scare you into thinking we're on some sort of tipping point into a hell on earth. If anyone were to show a mechanism by which this could occur and some observational evidence that it was occurring, then there would be no debate about it. Of course neither of these two criteria have been met because global warming is a fairy story. (See any non-greenie web site to find the truth of that if you doubt it.)

So basically there's no climate change impact to worry about, not in your lifetime.

We will have to adapt to climate change eventually, and there are two general areas to look for solutions.
Firstly we are overpopulated; reducing global population reduces the size of the problem to solve. A one-child policy in China, India, and in the western powers for 100 years would do a world of good in the long run.
Secondly, technology and commerce in the area of aquaculture will allow us to farm enough fish in the more thermally stable ocean to be able to get by regardless of what happens on land. And no one will complain about being short of Omega B then!
Existing buildings will have to be demolished or retrofitted to allow comfort in a cooler climate but there's nothing radically new about that. People will just get on with their lives as they always have.

Well, hope that's been reassuring, as the truth so often is not reassuring but it's nice to find an exception to the rule.

-Andrew M.