Robin Grieve
farmcarbon.co.nz
“The resource material in the schools’ climate change resource attributes agriculture with producing 48.1% of our greenhouse gas emissions which is simply not scientifically true.” Robin Grieve, Chairman of Pastural Farming Climate Research said today.
‘Agriculture produces 48.1% of carbon emissions based on the CO2 equivalent system, but that is a political system not a scientific one, and a fatally flawed one at that.
‘Climate scientists must step up for the sake of scientific integrity and put this right. The CO2 equivalent system has no scientific integrity and most of the theoretical carbon emissions it generates from methane emissions do not represent the emission of any real greenhouse gas which causes any increase in the atmospheric concentration of any real greenhouse gas.
‘The Government insists that this curriculum is science-based so science needs to step up and ensure that it is. A resource stating agriculture produces 48.1 % of our greenhouse gas emissions is in effect lying to our children which should not happen in a supposedly science-based programme.
‘Children are also being told they can reduce their carbon footprint by eating less meat and dairy. This is also not science because the carbon footprint calculator this statement relies on uses the discredited and political (rather than scientific) CO2 equivalent system, which overstates the impact agriculture has on the greenhouse effect caused by greenhouse gases.
‘Science is also very clear that reducing methane emissions, which is the main greenhouse gas produced by agriculture, will make no difference to peak global temperature and importantly reducing meat and dairy consumption must not be done at the expense of CO2 emissions. This means students must be told that it is not an option to choose to reduce meat and dairy consumption instead of reducing CO2 emissions. A dietary warning for people with developing bodies would be a prudent addition as well if teachers want to avoid lawsuits.
‘The truth about the discredited CO2 equivalent system would also make a welcome addition to the curriculum and scientists should insist on that.
‘Mental health issues should also be included in the topic with students taught that pointing out the flaws in a deeply flawed political system of quantifying greenhouse gases is not climate change denial as alarmists claim, and in fact, that term is tantamount to bullying by people who just fear questions they don’t like.
Pastural Farming Climate Research has produced a short video that teachers could use to explain the methane mistake that has resulted from the adoption of the nonsensical CO2 equivalent system of using an equivalence system that is not equivalent to quantify different greenhouse gases.