by Viv Forbes, author of “A Carbon ‘Price’ means a Carbon ‘Tax'”

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a colourless, non-toxic natural gas occurring in trace amounts in our atmosphere. It is crucial to all life on earth. Plants extract CO2 from the air and all animals get their carbon based proteins, sugars and fats from plants.

CO2 is also the source of that other crucial gas of life — oxygen. Plants use solar energy and the magic of photosynthesis to extract carbon from carbon dioxide and release the oxygen back to the air. Human activity completes the carbon cycle of life by burning the carbon food and fuels for energy and releasing CO2 back to the atmosphere.

Currently for every million molecules of air there are about 390 molecules of CO2 — a tiny amount which is almost the lowest it has ever been in the long history of the planet. At just 150 parts per million plants starve and plant growth ceases. Most life probably evolved at levels of 1,000 ppm or more. The dinosaurs flourished in air with 1,800 ppm of CO2. 400 million years ago, life flourished with 4,500 ppm CO2. US Submariners live comfortably in air with 8,000 ppm and human lungs exhale air with 40,000 ppm.

At what level does this gas of life morph into “pollution” and attract a carbon tax?

Or is the term “carbon pollution” just another misleading Wongism?