In the Western world, only the European Union remains committed to the treaty so what effect Yorkshire can have - despite being one of the biggest regions in the UK - remains unclear.

That is the political side of the debate. But there is an environmental side to the argument and the position on this is by no means clear for even the scientists - the so-called experts - are divided on the issue.

Almost everyone agrees that there is, in fact, a global warming effect underway. But more and more cracks are appearing on the once widely held belief that this was due to man-made emissions.

The Earth has always been subject to great changes in heat and cold. Fifteen thousand years ago, the whole of the Yorkshire Dales were under glaciers in the last Ice Age - one of many that have come and gone over the millennia.

There is widespread agreement that some greenhouse gases, like fluoro-carbons from aerosols, are very dangerous. But the main culprit, according to one sector of thought, is carbon dioxide, CO₂ , given off by industry and car exhausts burning fossil fuels.

However, a contradictory theory is now taking hold in some influential quarters that CO2 is, in fact, good for us because this is a gas on which plant life, and therefore crops, thrive. Commercial growers regularly pump C02 into their greenhouses to increase yields.

Now, as the future of farming in the Dales is under the biggest threat it has ever faced, a bit more C0₂ - and milder winters - might in fact do us a bit of good. Instead of being dependent almost entirely on livestock production, perhaps our farmers might be able to turn to arable crops - like high added-value organic vegetables, for instance.

There is a downside to this, of course. Global warming is widely held responsible for a vast increase in flooding across the world. We suffered here in the Dales last winter and parts of Africa, the Indian sub-continent and some Pacific islands were devastated.

So I am not suggesting that we allow Bangladesh to sink into the marsh so that we in Yorkshire can grow more lettuce. But there many experts who are recommending that instead of spending trillions of pounds on reducing greenhouse gases, we could use it instead to create better flood defences - and let CO₂ help the world to produce better crops.

So congrats, Yorkshire Forward, in sticking to your environmental guns. But before enforcing more controls on industry and car owners, it might be wise to wait for this argument to be settled one way or the other.

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Comments

Could this have anything to do with the 230,000 Hectares of forest that Tony put us down for at the latest gathering of junk scientists at Geneva a couple of weeks ago to get our CO2 credits up?

Apart from the methane production in the compost in the forest floor outweighing the CO2 absorbtion in the greenhouse gas stakes, it means clearing off a lot of small farmers. My feeling is that this has been attempted by the back door, & blown up in their faces. Quite apart from coal & timber stockpiling, Antipodean vets, etc, etc.

Anyone want to buy a good Whelk Stall, only slightly used?

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