2/17/2009

James Hansen going even further off the deep end

NASA scientist James Hansen has gotten even more extreme. These are his recent fairly strange claims of disaster in the UK Guardian:

A year ago, I wrote to Gordon Brown asking him to place a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in Britain. I have asked the same of Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd and other leaders. The reason is this - coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet.

The climate is nearing tipping points. Changes are beginning to appear and there is a potential for explosive changes, effects that would be irreversible, if we do not rapidly slow fossil-fuel emissions over the next few decades. As Arctic sea ice melts, the darker ocean absorbs more sunlight and speeds melting. As the tundra melts, methane, a strong greenhouse gas, is released, causing more warming. As species are exterminated by shifting climate zones, ecosystems can collapse, destroying more species.

The public, buffeted by weather fluctuations and economic turmoil, has little time to analyse decadal changes. How can people be expected to evaluate and filter out advice emanating from those pushing special interests? How can people distinguish between top-notch science and pseudo-science? . . .


Remember the statement by James Hansen's former NASA Supervisor here.

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5 Comments:

Blogger juandos said...

One wonders what James Hansen would think of the opinions of Václav Klaus the Czech president?

2/17/2009 7:39 AM  
Blogger life of illusion said...

I have looked for my own answers as to global warming being natural or being strongly influenced by mankind.
There was a warm period during the time of Christ that is almost identical to our current one.
Scientist predict a rise of 1.5C by the end of the century. Sounds great!! That will match the Mid Evil Warm Period, which was a very prosperous time.
And since there where few coal power plants and such back then, I conclude that climate change is natural. It is noteworthy that these periods are documented by both science and history.

2/17/2009 6:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

1) Hansen described how global warming acts, at least in one way.

2) He named a big contributor to global warming.

So how is this "going even further off the deep end"? How did Hansen say anything new that indicates to you he is becoming extreme? Has he never advocated curtailing human pollution? Has he never described basic science to you?

3) Hansen's "supervisor" you've cited? That guy was not his supervisor. That is a lie. This is why he said he was "in effect" his supervisor. In truth, he was not.

Beyond that, this "supervisor" has also made accusations that NASA scientists "manipulated the observed data". He does not justify this, instead opting to leave out in the open his claim that scientists who disagree with him are liars.

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/01/warm-reception-to-antarctic-warming-story/#comment-110819

2/18/2009 12:50 AM  
Blogger TooMuchTime said...

forthesakeofscience, you should really start understanding the scientific method. That is, to question everything and to shun concensus.

When you accept what scare-mongers like James Hansen and Al Gore are saying, without questioning them, you are no better than a religious zealot.

I would like to see your proof, scientific proof, FACTS, that reducing carbon output by humans will be beneficial to the temperature and climate as a whole.

The term FACT does not mean hypothetical climate models that have been proven to be inaccurate. It means a scientific fact; something that can be tested and duplicated to show its accuracy.

I await your proof.

2/18/2009 3:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The scientific method is not defined as shunning consensus. No scientist shuns gravity. That does not mean they "really need to start understanding the scientific method".

Carbon is largely eaten up by the trillions of micro-organisms that rule Earth. They cannot consume an infinite amount. We have already begun to exceed the amounts they've been able to consume without altering the environment.

Search PubMed for more information.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed

2/18/2009 5:53 PM  

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