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NASA scientist James Hansen issues a dire warning to
the president elect.
NASA scientist and climate expert Dr. James Hansen issued a dire warning to President elect Barack Obama saying he had four years to save the world. Dr. Hansen is head of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) and has long been one of the champions of the global warming movement. Oftentimes controversial and confrontational, he had some very stark words recently.
He is warning the incoming president that now is the time to act and drastic measures need to be taken to curb the effects of manmade climate change. According to Dr. Hansen, soaring carbon emissions threaten man’s very existence and after having supposedly been stymied in his efforts the last 10 years by politicians, the new administration must use the opportunity to act to save the planet.
We cannot afford to put off change any longer. We have to get on a new path within this new administration. We have only four years left for Obama to set an example to the rest of the world. America must take the lead.
- Dr. James Hansen, Goddard Institute of Space Studies
In a recent letter Dr. Hansen sent to President elect Obama and his wife Michelle, he urges a complete and total moratorium and phase out of coal fired power generating plants, our nation’s primary source of electricity. Blaming coal as the primary source of carbon dioxide, he believes this measure is critical and also advocates severely taxing the industry for its emissions. In the letter Dr. Hansen notes that it is low and middle income people that may bear the brunt of the increased energy costs from his measures.
His solution to the energy needs of the nation is to build nuclear power plants, something which in the past has been fought vehemently by those supporting the global warming theory. A potential problem however with Dr. Hansen’s approach is that he does not feel that currently available nuclear technology is a viable solution and wants research done on a “4th generation” of nuclear power plants. How the nation is supposed to make up the gap between immediately shutting down coal fired plants and the time it would take to research this new generation of power plants is unclear.
Dr. James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard
Institute of Space Studies, is one of the
leading advocates of the manmade global
warming theory.
Dr. Hansen is more than just a little bit extreme in his beliefs and has seen more than his share of controversy. He has accused the Bush administration of trying to silence him, has urged criminal trials for the executives of energy companies for spreading doubt about manmade climate change and advocated for the acquittal of Greenpeace activists that damaged a coal fired power plant saying the power plant was more damaging. Twice in recent years he and GISS have been repudiated for releasing incorrect data – first when he claimed 1998 was the hottest year of the 20th century and more recently when he said October 2008 was the warmest month ever measured. Both of those claims were disproved by other scientists when the data was thoroughly analyzed.
Dr. Hansen will almost certainly have the ear of the new president or at least those of some in his administration but what effect he will have on the global warming debate is unknown.
Special Report: Inauguration Day 2009
Comments
I don't think most people know from whence their electricity comes. Excellent post! Thanks for the info.
Global warming or climate change is the latest vehicle through which those who favor socialism intend to gain control of resources and regulate production and distribution. Unfortunately, it's working.
The cure sounds worse than the disease. Far more people would die if fossil fuels were no longer used to create energy. How would crops be grown, goods transported, homes warmed, etc.
I research energy issues -- www.energyplanusa.com . I'm pleased that Pres. Obama will draw on the knowledge of scientists. It's about time we marginalized the influence of special interest groups and lobbyists from our energy policy.
Hansen is on record recommending research into new-- although long ago prototypes -- varieties of nuclear reactor. These will be able to make gasoline from air and water, taking out as much CO2 as will be returned when they are used.
We should all be concerned about air pollution and toxic waste, but CO2 is not pollution.
CO2 is only 0.038% of the atmosphere, and only about 3% of that is man made. There really is not much CO2 in the air. 96% of the greenhouse effect is caused by natural water vapor.
CO2 is natural and good: We all produce CO2 every time we exhale. Trees take in CO2 and produce oxygen from it.
May I add one more inconvenient fact: The Sun is suddenly losing power, and it is already "13% cooler." This explains all the recent record cold temps, and record snowfalls.
See NASA's press release titled: "Solar Wind Loses Power, Hits 50-year Low" at
www.science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/23sep_solarwind.htm
The sun's average power delivery at Earth's orbit averaged 1366 watts per square metre over recent decades, with an 11-year fluctuation of 2 W/m^2. It's now at 1365.2 W/m^2, a normal-looking cycle bottom. The solar *wind*, although it may have much larger percentage fluctuations, fluctuates between, like 0.01 W/m^2 and 0.007 W/m^2.
--- G.R.L. Cowan (How fire can be domesticated)
Saying that CO2 is natural and good is silly. How about I stick you in a room full of CO2 and see how natural and good you feel after a few minutes? CO2 is a waste product. The earth is essentially a closed system to which we have been adding billions of tons of CO2 gas to every year. What a grand experiment we have here.
I can't believe this. There are more people riding this stupid 2012 bandwagon than all the navy men who drowned in Pearl Harbour. "Four years", wow, what a coincidence!
Solar Winds: Most charged particles can't even get past the Lorentz force deflection of the Earth's magnetosphere.
CO2 good: Just as silly to call CO2 bad, but what is indeed bad is putting-up with politicians mixing 5% truth with 95% bull.
0.038% CO2: I've always been suspicious of CO2 being the primary cause for global warming, thanks for the figures. Citations would be nice.
Nuclear Reactor: The amount of energy required to harvest water and CO2 from the atmosphere in a timely fashion would make it infeasible.
www.energyplanusa.com: What's being done about Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion? Many of us idealistic nerds are getting extremely impatient.
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