I’m the first to admit I’m not much of an extremist when it comes to the issue of global warming. I believe we’ve done some sort of damage to the Earth by the very act of living on it. It’s impossible not to impact the Earth somehow by our activities.

I believe that there is some warming going on, but I’m not convinced it’s as bad as environmentalists are preaching about. There’s too much politicising and extremism going on — from both sides — that’s getting in the way of the actual facts coming to light. I suppose this is why I’m still mostly a fence-sitter.

Yes, that controversial documentary screened tonight in Australia, with half an hour less content, mind, and a decent discussion on the issues afterwards that meant I had a whole hour of solid Tony Jones pervage, but that’s another matter entirely.

I was in two minds about it before I watched it. I’d heard about the controversy and having read most of Clive Hamilton’s book Scorched about climate politics in Australia, I admit I was skeptical about Durkin’s credibility. But I tried to watch it with an open mind, because when one closes oneself off to other opinions, one is on the road to fundamentalism and extremism. Harsh words, I know, but that’s how it starts.

I will admit that some of what Durkin says could be plausible. However, it’s a well-crafted opinion piece and makes its message believable. Or at least, it makes it plausible enough to make you think, which is what it did to me.

Now, I won’t discount the impact the sun has on the Earth. It would be stupid to say the sun has no impact on the Earth at all. There would be no life without the sun. Or at least, no life like there is now. However, one can make statistics and graphs say whatever one wants.

I’m intensely skeptical about a lot of things, politics for one. When I read about studies into medical treatments in the paper, I automatically scan for sample size and who might be funding the trials. Five years studying science at uni has taught me a thing or two about being skeptical, which is exactly what Karoly said on the debate tonight. Scientists are trained to be skeptical. I won’t deny that.

Now, I believe we should look after the Earth. It is, after all, the only one we’ve got. So I’m happy to support green energy and wind power and other alternative energy sources, because I do think it’s a good idea to pursue those technologies, especially in Australia. We get a lot of sun in Australia. We should be one of the leaders in solar power technology, and we should have more of it integrated into our grid than we do. Instead, all the innovative alternative energy technologies are being forced overseas because of a lack of funding and investment. This is a travesty. Our future is being primed for nuclear technology and power, on top of oil, gas and coal.

So what happens when the coal runs out? What about when all the oil disappears? So much of our world is dependant on oil and oil-based materials that there would certainly be a crash of massive proportions when the oil runs out. What happens then? What replaces it?

Right now, I’m not sure if oil or climate change is the bigger problem. I’m not sure what will have an effect first. Sure, oil is getting more expensive, and it’s certainly not going to get cheaper. What happens when oil runs out and climate change hit us both at once? The two things that drive and shape our world would combine to bring developed countries to their knees.

Now, I’m no proper climate scientist. My studies have mostly been in biology, so don’t take what I’m saying as absolute truth or even fact. This is just how I see it. There are just too many problems in the world at the moment that identifying one as the most significant is impossible for me. They’re all a problem, from climate change to oil to poverty to war, and none of them have a simple solution.

The time people stop seeing these things as simple issues that can be solved if everyone wears rubber armbands or buys red iPods or whatever needs to end. These issues are not simple. They won’t be solved overnight. The need for Governments to stand up and take action instead of just talking about things is over. The sooner everyone gets that through their thick fucking skulls the better we’ll all be. Governments need to start taking responsibility for the people they govern.