Brevity is the enemy of :

• facts
• information
• accuracy
• truth

I could stop writing right there, but then that would be too brief.

Far too often, I see messages contorted, twisted and lost in translation because, somewhere along the track, somebody tried to simplify the message usually to shorten the delivery or make it more accessible to the masses.

Nothing dilutes the accuracy of the facts more than this approach.

Take the greenhouse gases argument as an example. In many countries, they have implemented Kyoto protocols such as Emission controls and thus Trading Systems to go along with them. 

Politicians (usually the simplest of the simple minded amongst the population) therefore attach themselves to what they understood, and being masters of the sound-bite repeat the message of their misunderstanding. 

CARBON.

“Carbon is the enemy”, they say. “Carbon needs to be managed”, they repeat.

So, people talk about Carbon and fail to understand how carbon can be a problem.

Well, it’s like this.

Remember in school you were taught how to add fractions? They told you when you have mixed fractions, the best thing to do was to equalise them all to a COMMON DENOMINATOR … remember that?

Well, that is what happened here. 

CO2e is the formula you will always see on climate science reports. 

That “e” is important, by the way. It stands for EQUIVALENT.

CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) is the COMMON DENOMINATOR.

Gases are measured as a Carbon-Dioxide-EQUIVALENT.

**/ explodes in a state of frustration /**