While reading the Australian Review last weekend, I noticed this piece of information quoted by Jane Fraser in her 'plainly jane' column:
"...Ian Pilmer, a professor at the University of Adelaide...'Of course you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress,' he writes. 'That vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow, and to synthesise into oxygen for us humans and all animal life.'
...He says he knows how disheartening it is to realise all your savings on carbon emissions have been eaten up by natural disasters. You've suffered the inconvenience and expense of driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up 'til midnight to finish your kids' "The Green Revolution" science project, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet, selling your speedboat, holidaying at home instead of abroad, replacing all those light globes that cost you 50c for ones that set you back $10...
Well, he says, it took just four days to flush all these good works down the drain. In those four days the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland spewed enough volcanic ash to negate every single effort you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emmisions.
Pilmer adds he doesn't want to rain on our parade too much...but he should mention that when Mt Pinatubo erupted in the Phillippines in 1991, it threw out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in its entire time on earth. It was active for more than a year."
