Some have said in the past that Jim Hansen of NASA GISS is no longer a scientist, but an advocate. Today, by his own hand, I believe that description rings true.
Click for video
Here is what Greenpeace is using Dr. Hansen for:
It’s time to take a stand on global warming. Dr. James Hansen, an internationally-recognized climate scientist, calls for Americans to take part in the Capitol Climate Action on March 2 at the Capitol power plant in Washington DC — expected to be the largest display of civil disobedience against global warming in US history. Dr. Hansen warns that unless we stop burning coal, the country’s largest source of global warming pollution, young people will inherit a dramatically different world than the one we know. For more info visit capitolclimateaction.org.
Let us hope that nobody is injured or killed at this demonstration. Hansen may run afoul of the Hatch Act, see below.
For those of you that wish to write letters, here is the info:
Jim Hansen’s email: jhansen@giss.nasa.gov
His supervisor is Robert Strain at Goddard Space Flight Center: rstrain@gsfc.nasa.gov (which apparently does not wor)
So try: public-inquiries@gsfc.nasa.gov
Here is what the US Office of Special Counsel says about the Hatch Act as it applies to Federal Employees, of which I believe Dr. Hansen is one. You can file complaints online here with the office of Special Counsel
Federal employees should also be aware that certain political activities may also be criminal offenses under title 18 of the U.S. Code. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 210, 211, 594, 595, 600, 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, 610.
Permitted/Prohibited Activities for Employees Who May Participate in Partisan Political Activity
These federal and D.C. employees may–
- be candidates for public office in nonpartisan elections
- register and vote as they choose
- assist in voter registration drives
- express opinions about candidates and issues
- contribute money to political organizations
- attend political fundraising functions
- attend and be active at political rallies and meetings
- join and be an active member of a political party or club
- sign nominating petitions
- campaign for or against referendum questions, constitutional amendments, municipal ordinances
- campaign for or against candidates in partisan elections
- make campaign speeches for candidates in partisan elections
- distribute campaign literature in partisan elections
- hold office in political clubs or parties
These federal and D.C. employees may not–
- use official authority or influence to interfere with an election
- solicit or discourage political activity of anyone with business before their agency
- solicit or receive political contributions (may be done in certain limited situations by federal labor or other employee organizations)
- be candidates for public office in partisan elections
- engage in political activity while:
- on duty
- in a government office
- wearing an official uniform
- using a government vehicle
- wear partisan political buttons on duty
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Dr Hansen will be mighty pleased with NASA’s Office of Public Affairs. First, he is a Dr, not a Mr. Second, his name is spelt Hansen, not Hanson.
Am I detecting maybe a signal from NASA as to what their real views of Dr Hansen may be?
“Cut NASA funding”
is the drum to be beaten until Hansen is gone.
The only way to separate Hansen’s opinions from official NASA positions is to separate Hansen from NASA
Complaint against Hansen filed.
Those who are pathologically committed to a stable, static, climate are suffering from an environmental form of Peter Pan Syndrome.
I see a similar thing with people in the growth-control movement here in New Hampshire and Vermont. They cling to their vision of what the past was, whether colonial wilderness era, or even so recent as the era of Norman Rockwell and his sentimentalist paintings of small town new england living, and oppose any form of progress, economic growth, population growth, etc.
There is a distinct segement of the human population that is highly resistant to change. Political conservatives capitalize on this wrt social changes. Since the humanists abandoned the human race in the face of Industrial Age abuses/externalities, the left has focused on environmental change as a means of anti-capitalist/anti-technology marxism/luddism.
I think that there is an idealised vision of “Pristine Nature” that some people hold.
Unfortunately it’s an ideal only.
Also it seems to be mostly held by comfortable urban elites who have not recently or ever been bitten on the a*$e by a rampant nature red in tooth and claw.
One rule in politics is “follow the money” . It would be interesting to know if Hansen has any investments in solar, wind or other “green” energy. Perhaps he is a shill for these enterprises.
so how about on March 2 we launch a counter attack. Write and phone your congressmen, and the president and let them know that we dont have to travel to Washington and waste gas to not believe in man made climate change. Let them know that if there is no alternative energy to take the place of coal power, it stays in place till there is. No ifs ands or buts about it.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
http://www.senate.gov/
http://www.house.gov/
Ironic? An apology from Britain for setting the ball rolling. Sort of.
What isn’t ironic is rain on your wedding day. That’s just rain on your wedding day.
Yet what is ironic, to me, is how this whole nonsense was given vital early momentum in Britain. How? Well thanks to our government under Margaret Thatcher, during the early to mid 1980s. A total right wing individualist sought to ensure that the coal mining industry in Britain would never hold the British government (her) to ransom again through the power of the unions. She won the battle and then £supported research to help terminally undermine the status of coal as a fuel. Of the 170 collieries in 1984, less than 10 now remain. They believed nuclear power, nationalised, would soon become a model of national power, we only had to look across the channel to France. The research they funded was to support the theory that coal-fired power stations could one day threaten the climate via a certain greenhouse gas.
So yes, for you right wingers, a bit of an own goal there eh? That’s pretty ironic. Don’t you think? He..he… but I ain’t smiling. I’m not a carbon footprint, I’m a free man who makes his position in a well-informed society. I may be left of centre, maybe just a meritocratist, but I’d sooner be in bed with strange bedfellows where provable truth and fact is concerned. So move over, comrades, and let me in.
What I am also saying here is that you guys need to cool down a bit and moderate the political ‘tax your breath’ rant. There is plenty of good scientific rope to hang this fraud Hansen with his runaway IPCC. Please don’t alienate us with your Foxaholic tendancies, there’s a more important battle to fight. Sometimes your political urges are somewhat alarmist. Then we can get back to real politics and how your theory of ‘trickle down effect economics’ is a complete corporate-enabling third person abusing sham. Deal? As for union (ab)use of power, you have no argument there from me.
Hats off to you Anthony for this truly excellent scientific site.
Dr. Tim Ball has an explanation of the neo-reality and neo-truth as evinced by neo-science and neo-economics in our neo-world of relativism. Our lives are greatly simplified by the ready access to neo-common sense, neo-logic and neo-reason. A great weight is lifted from our shoulders by the neo-standards. The neo-living is much easier.
The neo-stimulus pork and debt bill is similar to bailing-out the boat while standing in the bucket.
This neo-world was first recognized by the reknowned neo-hoax-meister, Almer Goretry, when he expressed its “truth” by remarking that everthing up, is down and everything down. is up The discovery of neo-gravity? Worthy of a Nobel Prize.
———————————————————
Truth and Reality Exiting Stage Left
The list of absolute contradictions about environment and economies gets longer every day as we drift further from logic and reason
By Dr. Tim Ball Monday, February 23, 2009
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/8712
“When we remember that we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.” Mark Twain’s comment helps me understand the absolute contradictions presented as truth, sense and reality. Consider just a short list.
Warming is causing global cooling.
The sun has virtually nothing to do with global temperature change.
Carbon dioxide, a harmless gas essential to life on Earth is labeled a toxic substance and a pollutant and must be reduced.
Rewarding failures will reduce the number of failures.
Punishing success will encourage more success.
You can have more freedom by letting the government control more of your life.
You get out of debt by going further into debt.
The best people to get you out of trouble are the ones who got you there.
C’mon now! I didn’t hear him say anything about civil disobedience, and what if he had. Calling down the Hatch Act on him?
Maybe he’s a bad scientist, and maybe he’s crossed the line from science to political advocacy, but let’s have the chips fall where they may rather than calling in the police.
Hanson get’s help from MIT: More fraudulent scientists.
From: http://heliogenic.blogspot.com/2009/02/alarming-climate-model-output-from-mit.html
February 23, 2009
Alarming climate model output from MIT
“Report: High odds of warming over 5°C (9°F) if no action.
New research from MIT scientists shows that in the absence of stringent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, 21st century climate change may be far more significant than some previous climate assessments had indicated. …
The modeling experiments are not meant to provide precise forecasts of future temperature changes, but rather to serve as what one related MIT study calls “thought experiments” to help policymakers and the public understand how decisions regarding emissions reductions may affect the magnitude of climate change. …
To update their findings that were first unveiled in 2002, the MIT researchers used an in-house computer model …
A main conclusion is that [positive] feedbacks within the climate system … may act to increase the magnitude of climate change …
For the no policy scenario, the researchers concluded that there is now a nine percent chance (about one in 11 odds) that the global average surface temperature would increase by more than 7°C (12.6°F) by the end of this century, compared with only a less than one percent chance (one in 100 odds) that warming would be limited to below 3°C (5.4°F) .
The median warming value, with even odds of the temperature increase being above or below that value, was 5.1°C (9.2°F). For comparison, the same research group’s no policy scenario yielded a median value of just 2.4°C (4.3°F) in 2002.” “MIT Group Increases Global Warming Projections”
Let’s dissect this. Climate modeling is not “research” and it is not “experiments”. It is simply output from a computer program written by humans who have very limited knowledge of the dynamics of the Earth’s climate system. The climate models program in strong positive feedbacks and, of course, the models output strong temperature increases. In the real world the data show just the opposite, namely strong negative feedbacks.
Even assuming, as a zeroth approximation, that the net feedback is zero instead of negative, doubling atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide would yield only a very modest warming. The warming of the last century, about 0.6 deg K, was mostly due to increased solar activity since the Maunder Minimum, which coincided with the temperature minimum of the Little Ice Age about three centuries ago. Only about 0.1 deg K, tops, was due to anything else (here and IceCap, What’s New & Cool, August 28, 2008, “Is Earth still recovering from the Little Ice Age?”). This is in line with Idso’s experimental determination that climate sensitivity is only 0.1 deg K/(W/m^2), and a radiative forcing parameter of 3.3 W/m^2.
Since the CO2 increase from 280 to 380 ppmv in the last century may have resulted in only 0.1 deg K of warming, and applying the IPCC’s logarithmic equation, we obtain for a doubling of CO2 from 280 to 560 ppmv a warming of only 0.2 deg K, half of which has already occurred.
Posted by jblethen at 2/23/2009
Labels: climate models, CO2, temperature record
“In the real world the data show just the opposite, namely strong negative feedbacks.”
Really? What, for example.
A stable climate for the last billion years.
Research can be biased. Plain and simple. As a special educator, I am faced with daily decisions about research based propaganda by curriculum publishers versus independent analysis. If you EVER need a simple reminder of who to believe, take any “research based” curriculum and compare the publisher-sponsored research with independent research results. It will be an eye-opener. Schools have bought millions of dollars worth of curriculum based on publisher-sponsored research that then gets verbally repeated by Universities. Bad policy. The gold standard of any research endeavor is a double blind study. It’s the only way to replicate research. That means that the researcher blindly assigns treatment that has no published label, to one group, and assigns another treatment (or no treatment) to a control group. The subjects have no idea what they are receiving either. Thus the double blind. The researcher then looks at the results without knowing who got what until the very end. Obviously, any researcher connected to a publisher should not be allowed to study the curriculum published by the publisher he or she is connected to.
So what is Hansen connected to? Where does his salary come from? Who is funding the grants? What kind of “goody” is he getting from this grand-standing? Is this man getting his rocks off from media coverage? Or is it just the money? I think it is both. I think he like the media darling coverage just like Gore like it. I also think it is the money/grant thing. I have been in that Ivory tower and the butt-kissing that goes on for grant money would make a whore blush.
like(s). Sorry.
There is more BS from Hanson on youtube:
More action against Hanson: http://co2sceptics.com/news.php?id=2862
@ur momisugly Ron de Haan (18:24:55) :
whoaaaa, nelly! Did that announcer say, “Supreme Master Television????”
!@ur momisugly#%#$%^ if he didn’t! …. looking it up ….
YIPES!
http://www.godsdirectcontact.org/
HANSEN ISN’T JUST WRONG, HE’S TOTALLY BONKERS!
Nice catch, RdH!
Completely off topic: click
I love the muppets as well as the next guy. Leave the man alone
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/science/earth/03nasa.html?_r=1&em&ex=1212638400&en=27f054b906a7623c&ei=5087
“Two years after Hansen and other agency employees described a pattern of distortion and suppression of climate science by political appointees, the agency’s inspector general report said “our investigation found that during the fall of 2004 through early 2006, the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalized or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general public.”
Glad that is out in the open so that “NASA climate science” can be made freely available to the general public.
RE: What he’s not allowed to do….
Yeah, and congress isn’t supposed to conduct foreign policy independent of the president, but how many of these clowns have you seen get in trouble for that?
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/07/dem-shocker-speaker-pelosi-was-sending.html
http://www.neoperspectives.com/kerrysouthamerica.htm
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/kgb-letter-details-ted-kennedys-offer-to-help-ussr
I don’t think Hansen will suffer for it either, especially with a president who supports the kind of subversive behavior so common among the Left, because unaccountability, intimidation and treachery are among the main the tools of their trade.
It is my opinion that Dr. Hansen is not acting in the capacity of scientist nor is he using sound scientific methods. He is playing the role of activist with “science” designed to further an agenda.
I really wonder what his beef is with the coal industry. In the 1970’s he was saying that burning coal would cause us to freeze to death in an ice age. Does anyone know what his position is on nuclear energy?
The reason I ask that question is because economic expansion is directly related to energy consumption. Let’s say you produce apples. Setting 100 baskets of apples picked, packed, and sent to market and delivered to the consumer requires some amount of energy. If you want to expand production to 110 baskets of apples, it takes more energy to pick, pack, market, and deliver those apples simply because there is more product to handle and move. In that way, any expanding economy will consume more energy as it produces more.
Now there will be some gain from increases in efficiency and cutting of wasted energy, but there is a cost associated. If you spend capital in cutting waste energy but get no increase in production for it, in other words, if it costs you more to cut the waste than the saved energy cost you, your economy has shrunk. And when you begin to introduce artificial inefficiencies into the market by, for example, taxing CO2, you add overhead expense to the entire economy and get yourself into a Catch-22 situation. You can not increase production without increasing CO2 emissions and you can not increase CO2 emissions without incurring additional overhead. What is proposed as an “environmental” tax is actually a tax on economic expansion. It basically forces the economy into a state of contraction and in this case it is for payment for something that is quite unnecessary.
This pseudo-science that Hansen and his ilk have been pushing have people actually believing that CO2 is harmful in some way. My kids are being taught this in school. But the bottom line is that it is a direct brake applied to the economy of the US and any other country who decides to adopt CO2 reduction strategies. Who benefits? The countries that are not bound by any such restrictions. It is a massive, global, “redistribution of wealth” that allows some economies to expand unhampered while putting the brakes on other economies through the creation of the CO2 bogeyman.
FWIW, I’ve started a wordpress blog to, among other things, “Deconstruct GIStemp”.
It’s at:
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/
And I’ve put up a first entry that gives pointers to where you can download the GIStemp code, get the data files, and take a look at the “directions”.
From here on out I will be putting my GIStemp comments there and leaving pointers here if I discover anything interesting in Hansen’s code.
Very good – can you link to it so people can get there by clicking on your name?
I bookmarked it, but that link would be more convenient.
GOOGLE of — “james hansen” supreme master television — gives 8,210 hits.
http://suprememastertelevision.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=sos&sca=sos_3&wr_id=664
“Dr. Rajendra Pachauri – The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)” is featured in their propaganda, as well…
http://suprememastertv.com/blog/2008/09/dr-rajendra-pachaurichief-of-un-ipcc-on.html
http://suprememastertv.com/climate-change-solution/
“Dr. James Hansen:Leader of Climate Change Science for Wise Action”
http://revver.com/video/946807/dr-james-hansenleader-of-climate-change-science-for-wise-action/
Leader of … an organization I can’t find in Google? So, is it an otherwise “secret” society? and how much time does he spend doing this when he’s on the taxpayer’s dime, anyway? No wonder they don’t have time to do the proper QC on their data and equipment.
Seems he may be a cult member, and only heavy de-programing may be needed to bring him back, if he hasn’t gone over the event horizon.
LOL – Hansen’s going to need this when his theories are debunked and he’s in the political and scientific doghouse…
http://www.godsdirectcontact.org/doggie/
must have been something I said? Ok, I’ll change the title…
OH $#@&!
GOOGLE of — “james hansen” supreme master television — gives 8,210 hits.
http://suprememastertelevision.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=sos&sca=sos_3&wr_id=664
“Dr. Rajendra Pachauri – The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)” is featured in their propaganda, as well…
http://suprememastertv.com/blog/2008/09/dr-rajendra-pachaurichief-of-un-ipcc-on.html
http://suprememastertv.com/climate-change-solution/
“Dr. James Hansen:Leader of Climate Change Science for Wise Action”
http://revver.com/video/946807/dr-james-hansenleader-of-climate-change-science-for-wise-action/
Leader of … an organization I can’t find in Google? So, is it an otherwise “secret” society? and how much time does he spend doing this when he’s on the taxpayer’s dime, anyway? No wonder they don’t have time to do the proper QC on their data and equipment.
If he were a member of that cult, that might explain his behavior? “Yes, supreme master, your wish is my command.”
LOL – Hansen’s going to need this when his theories are debunked and he’s in the political and scientific doghouse…
http://www.godsdirectcontact.org/doggie/
Hmmm, all those fruitcake links probably got the spam filter all excited.
GOOGLE of — “james hansen” supreme master television — gives 8,210 hits.
http://suprememastertelevision.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=sos&sca=sos_3&wr_id=664
“Dr. Rajendra Pachauri – The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)” is featured in their propaganda, as well…
(links deleted to appease supreme master spam filter)
“Dr. James Hansen:Leader of Climate Change Science for Wise Action”
http://revver.com/video/946807/dr-james-hansenleader-of-climate-change-science-for-wise-action/
Leader of … an organization I can’t find in Google? So, is it an otherwise “secret” society? ..or a made up name to con viewers of these videos? But if it is a real organization, how much time does he spend running it when he’s on the taxpayer’s dime, anyway? No wonder they don’t have time to do the proper QC on their data and equipment.
If he were a member of that cult, that might explain his behavior? “Yes, supreme master, your wish is my command.”
LOL – Hansen’s going to need this when his theories are debunked and he’s in the political and scientific doghouse…
http://www.godsdirectcontact.org/doggie/
Why cant you Americans get your house in order.
You go to war on the basis of evidence that didnt exist
Then you you create a world wide financial calamity by lending money to people who have no income, no job, and non security. How bright is that.
Now you want to stop the use of all coal based power stations on the basis of evidence from a fraud who cant even run his publically funded organisation in a competent manner.Pretty dumb managment here
Which if he is successful would cause even greater damage to your already stuffed up economy.Can it be any worse.
But he is allowed to engage in activities that contravene your own laws.I give up.
America is going down the gurgler faster than a co2 molecule on heat.
Malcolm Hill, some of your accusations are correct, and some are totally out to lunch. If you were a Brit, or a citizen of just about any EU country, I could default to the old saw “people who live in glass houses…” But the fact is that you are preaching to the choir here. On the items that you are right about, we agree, and we conservatives are speaking out as best we can against the madness. Now, wherever you live, I’m sure your problems are at least as bad as ours, so go and try to fix up your own house. And if it’s all fine and dandy, then go preach to the American Leftists who brought the worst of this on us, because if it hasn’t reached you yet, it will.
We had more evidence of Saddam Hussien possessing WMD’s than we currently do for AGW. That Hussein had at one time had WMD’s is undeniable, he’s used them. Besides that point, WMD’s werent the sole reason for invading Iraq in the first place.
The other points you raise stem from the same type of ideological sickness (socialism) that also consumes Europe including your country. Maybe you should follow your own advice and quit blaming the US for all your woes.
The difficulty for us over here is the huge democratic deficit which means we have no real say in what the insane megalomaniacs in the EU do. At least you were able to vote for your insane megalomaniacs.
He is a political scientist. Read Atlas Shrugged looking at Dr. Stadler.
A core issue is the discredit he brings to other hard working scientists at many other government agencies.
When Hansen is proven wrong, politicians like Gore, will in turn blame Hansen for misleading them, then walk away form the issue.
A core issue is the role of government scientists and policy. Is the USA government properly preparing for alternative climate scenarios, or are they “betting the bank” on warming. What if they are wrong? Are we prepared for cooling, food shortages, energy shortages? Do we really want to be eliminating coal power plants if we might enter a period of extended cooling?
I think the bottom line is that nuclear will prevail. It is the only reasonable solution that will not wreck the US economy.
Obama seemed smart and politically aware. 80% divided by 40 years is 2% reduction per year, which will be noticeable only in the pockets of those playing the carbon credit bubble. Lets hope that he does go full speed ahead on nuclear, and then disaster will be averted, if the volatile climate starts heating up again.
Or if we get two more years like the last two, the case will be closed without too much damage to the economy.
You’re assuming a 2% decline of current levels each year.in that 40th year, it maps into a 10% decline of the 2049 level.
Top of the head calculation for a long term rate is call it a couple halvings in 36 years, one halving in 18, rule of 72 says 6% year over year.
Not so easy!
Thanks – might be a pair of useful factoids for me this weekend.
Hasitbeen4yearsyet
The war on Iraq and the subprime mortage crisis are peculiarly American in origin, but global in impact. So reference to people living in glass houses is bit rich.
We are preoccupied in making sure that the damages caused by the collective failures of the USA political and financial systems are minimised. Any problems others have after that are minor.
I would much prefer to see American stay on top, but it looks like it is not going to be case for the foreseable future. I mean if you dont even have the balls to rein Hansen in, what hope is there. He cant do the job he is paid to do properly but he can engage in external lobbying. What a joke.
Of course the EPA declaring Co2 a pollutant wont ensure that the Gore Brigade get fatter and richer – oh no– that wont happen, pigs.
There is bugger all that we can do, that would affect the USA in the same way the failures and incompetence in the USA have affected others, with or without the leftists as you call them.
I think we are in a glass house.
I know people on state benefits who got mortgages.
Granted, our sub-prime mortgages won’t affect the rest of the world, but they are/were there.
Similarly, credit card companies were/are lending to people who simply couldn’t/can’t afford these debts.
Credit has gone mad here too.
DaveE.