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A So-Called Market in Invisible Stuff: Tony Abbott's Carbon Talk

"It's a market, a so-called market, in the non-delivery of an invisible substance to no one," Tony Abbott said on Monday, answering his own rhetorical question about what a carbon trading scheme is.

Abbott's emission was received with glee on social media, where people pointed out that there are many "invisible substances" - natural gas, oxygen and bacteria spring to mind - that both have market value and are essential to life on Earth.

It's the latest in a long campaign to redefine the stuff that comes from burning coal as a "colourless, odourless gas", a harmless three-way cuddle between one carbon and two oxygen atoms that, happily, provides "plant food". But, while the "invisible substance" line is facile, it is worth examining a little more closely, because it contains a few hints about the opposition's strategy.

Twitter / Revkin: .@Reuters jumps PNAS embargo ...

.@Reuters jumps PNAS embargo & utterly botches story on new @PIK_climate study of sea level rise per degree... http://tmblr.co/ZtU9QypgZJ43

Twitter / billmckibben: 2nd-biggest fire in US history ...

2nd-biggest fire in US history now spreading smoke to Europe http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/models-point-to-rapid-sealevel-rise-from-climate-change-20130714-2pxoz.html …

Bill links us to an article about sea-level rise above.
7/13/13: Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog : Canada's 2nd Largest Fire on Record Spreading Smoke to Europe | Weather Underground

A massive fire burning in northern Quebec is Canada's second largest fire since fire records began in 1959, according to the Canadian Forest Service.