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"Today, in my very short time, I am going to dare to touch what may have become a ‘holy cow'. Remember Y2K...just a thought! Our tendency as humans, to over confidence is often astounding...no matter how many Y2K, second coming of Jesus predictions and sinking of invincible titanic's we go through we still tend to think we absolutely know, when in fact we only know in part.

The melting of glaciers and erratic severe weather, do bear testimony to the warming of earth's atmosphere, but the cause of this is far from certain with scientists at odds with each other, and with many politicians. <#_ftn1>
Dr Roy Spencer, a NASA meteorological scientist who received NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for his global temperature monitoring work warns that ‘skillful storytelling' has elevated the danger of global warming from a theoretical one to one of near-certainty.

There is no scientific consensus on the primary cause of global warming and if anything, man appears to be the least likely to be having an effect upon it. Any geo-engineering on our part could have unintended consequences.

Climate warming is not necessarily apocalyptic nor is it new. The Temperature Anomaly Graph over the last two thousand years shows that when the Vikings colonised Greenland, they were in a five-hundred-year warmer period... and for about 200 years from about 1400 AD there was ‘a Little Ice Age' - so fluctuations happen!
Before jumping on the bandwagon of global agreement to cut fossil fuel use, we should at least consider all available information. Inflicting on South Africa, international demands that may not suit us and which could lead to massive, unnecessary expense, is a big commitment. How sure are we?

Developing renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power make sense on so many levels and must be a strategic priority but we cannot ignore the fact that exorbitant energy costs have the potential to halt development and cripple an economy with devastating consequences for the most vulnerable in society. A well considered and balanced approach is the way to go".