paul, excellent post. I particularly liked your "The debate should never have been about carbon, just pollution. It doesnt even have to be about temperature. we should be reducing polution because it is right.
I dont have the answers but maybe we will be better off if our intentions were cleare in the start"
I would add, stop wasting resources, which occurs on an horrendous scale in our consumerist society. The less we waste, the less pollution as a matter of course.
For instance, it is almost certainly more eco-friendly to maintain your existing car well to minimise fuel consumption (unless you have a really old gas guzzler) rather than buy a new hybrid, in terms of pollution involved in making the new one and the unrecycleable products when the old one is wrecked. By skipping a few generations of "new" cars you'll reduce landfill and resource gobbling significantly.
Buy local fresh produce from markets rather than Coles/Woolworths, where the food often comes interstate or international. Eat what is in season, and wait for the natural cycles to bring in the mangoes instead of the road train.
Turn off the lights when not in a room - boy, is that a struggle in our family! You don't save much money, but the training in not wasting stuff is valuable.
