Even the very liberal UK Guardian picked up on this. What next Jim, the Constitution? NASA, please fire this man. (h/t to Barbara)
Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
From the UK Guardian:
Protest and direct action could be the only way to tackle soaring carbon emissions, a leading climate scientist has said.
James Hansen, a climate modeller with Nasa, told the Guardian today that corporate lobbying has undermined democratic attempts to curb carbon pollution. “The democratic process doesn’t quite seem to be working,” he said.
Speaking on the eve of joining a protest against the headquarters of power firm E.ON in Coventry, Hansen said: “The first action that people should take is to use the democratic process. What is frustrating people, me included, is that democratic action affects elections but what we get then from political leaders is greenwash.
“The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes. So, I’m not surprised that people are getting frustrated. I think that peaceful demonstration is not out of order, because we’re running out of time.”
Hansen said he was taking part in the Coventry demonstration tomorrow because he wants a worldwide moratorium on new coal power stations. E.ON wants to build such a station at Kingsnorth in Kent, an application that energy and the climate change minister Ed Miliband recently delayed. “I think that peaceful actions that attempt to draw society’s attention to the issue are not inappropriate,” Hansen said.
He added that a scientific meeting in Copenhagen last week had made clear the “urgency of the science and the inaction taken by governments”.
Read the entire story in the UK Guardian
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“What is the facial hair thing about? Scaring children so they’re easier to indoctrinate? ;-p”
It’s so when we enter the Second Maunder, their cheeks won’t get frostbitten.
“OT: Scientists in possible cold fusion breakthrough”
Last time it was from the Melvin Dumar Institute of Woo-Woo Technology. Nice timing, though.
“I am having a difficult time uncovering exactly which part of the Hatch Act this guy is in violation of. “
The part about crying “Aieee!” and being an Egghead in a public place.
From a political view nothing has changed.
Have a look at what Archy Bunker had to say about democrats and energy:
I voted against dismissal.
At present, his comments possibly doing more harm than good to his cause.
It would be good to talk privately to a couple of IPCC lead authors
and ask them what they think confidentially about H’s statements.
I agree that dismissal would only turn him into a martyr.
His direct bosses might be happy with his work.
After all the first mission of a bureaucracy is to grow and H’s publicity
is possibly helping NASA get its budgets through.
If you dont like what someone is saying, ridiculing them
is often the best response. How far is H away from being a figure of fun?
Calls to fire Hansen are misplaced.
Bob Carter touched upon this at the recent ICCC – the man has become a complete and utter joke – the court jester he once declined to “joust” with. Leave him where he is – he is making a spectacle of himself and is doing more than any other single individual to show that AGW alarmism is a religious cult, and as science is more or less bankrupt.
Smokey (17:23:57) :
“Have you compared GISS with other data sources?”
Yes, let’s look at that: click
Sorry if I was misunderstood. If you think it will get colder or warmer.That is not my point. We have millions acres of land in the USA that can produce the corn,soybean or other crops we need that are either in CRP or other wise idle. They are just not the highly productive acres growing crops today.
“…the Melvin Dumar Institute of Woo-Woo Technology.”
LOL! I remember him.
Well Mr Hanson may well be right… But it isn’t his side that isn’t under threat of tyranny.
I suggest that Mr Hanson himself is a despotic individual who’s corrupting influence has been harmful to any who would view the world differently than himself…. But of course that is just my opinion, others may differ.
Oliver Ramsay (07:57:04) :
Don’t fire him! He’s doing more good for the Deniers than for the Warmers. . .
Sir, I deny nothing. I firmly state the facts. And those facts do not support Hansen’s side of the AGW debate.
Bill McClure,
Sorry, I did misunderstand you. But the graph is interesting, isn’t it? Should we go with the consensus?
oops correction…….. But it isn’t his side that IS under threat of tyranny….
One day I’ll learn to proof read.
@ur momisugly just want the truth:
You thunk wrong.
It was on his now defunct website, but I found another source here:
Per Roy Spencer:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/116478.html
“I left NASA for a few reasons,” replied Spencer via e-mail, “But probably the main reason was not being able to openly give my opinions on global warming.” He explained that as NASA employees, scientists are also seen as representatives of NASA, and they are supposed to coordinate media interviews (and especially congressional testimony) through the agency’s public affairs office and management. “NASA management has never liked being ‘blindsided’ when they read the morning newspaper,” noted Spencer. He added, “They also like everyone in NASA to be singing the same tune (which I have never understood from a science point of view).” Spencer called Hansen “an excellent scientist.” He concluded, “When I worked for NASA, I just tried to play by the rules, and resigned when I decided I didn’t want to play any longer. Jim Hansen has much more political capital to spend than I had, and if I was in his position and believed as he does, I might well be doing the same thing he is doing now.”
and
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2009/01/another-nasa-defection-to-the-skeptics-camp/
“In truth, it wasn’t Hansen who was muzzled, but it was me in the Clinton-Gore years, who was asked to keep my mouth shut about my skeptical views. That was fine…if a little annoying. At least the flap Hansen caused has managed to force NASA to say that their scientists no longer have to march in lock-step on scientific issues. That’s a good thing.”
He followed the rules. Hansen does not, but now has set a precedent whereby any government employed scientist should be able to speak their mind, but we know what happens to those that disagree with the “consensus” don’t we?
Now, amidst the 1400+ interviews Hansen has given including Congressional testimonies, would you care to demonstrate how Hansen was “muzzled”?
firing mr. hansen would at least serve to reminder to some of his collegues, that science should be based on hard facts and not on adjusted data, belief or other personal or political agendas.
Smokey (17:44:25) :
“Bill McClure,
Sorry, I did misunderstand you. But the graph is interesting, isn’t it? Should we go with the consensus?”
You do make it interesting here.
BTW my wife doesn’t understand me either. any help there
Reminds me that when our daughter was just learning the language, she came up with “boiling cold”!
/Mr Lynn
Just had to say this, I don’t usually comment on the more politically toned things, the man’s picture bears an eerie resemblance to the clown from the movie version of ‘It’.
I’m going to abstain on the vote, mainly because I think JH ranting is more damaging to AGW than his silence. Every time he opens his mouth the impartiality (in the scientific sense) of GISS and by implication NASA takes a tumble.
I have to say that I feel a little sorry for his (GISS) underlings really.
OT but the Catlin “Arctic Survey” “pushing forward” – My money is still on the Polar Bears.
OK, I read the post and quickly scanned the comments section, but please pardon me if I’m being redundant here, but I just don’t have the time to read through 285 comments (my congrats to Anthony for a very succesful blog, thougth).
Anyway I posted this on my blog last week, and it is video of Hansen being confronted (while SNOW is falling) at the Capitol Climate Action protest, and Hansen’s reply:
Interviewer: Are you here as an employee of NASA?
James Hansen: No! Of course not. I’m here, I’m on vacation today.
Interviewer: You’re here as a private citizen then?
Hansen: Yes, of course.
Interviewer: Some people are going to say, “But you’re James Hansen, you’re always, you’re always identified with NASA”, and they’re saying you’re splitting hairs.
Hansen: I’m also a Columbia University adjunct professor, I mean I, uh, haven’t given up my rights as a US citizen, and freedom of speech is one of them.
And the entire video is here…
http://algorelied.com/?p=948
A more , ah, vicious take on Hansen and his rejection of democratic consensus here:
http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2009/03/james-hansen-nasa-climate-modeler-turns-activist-joins-global-warming-protest-in-uk/
Maybe what is happening is that people see through the switch from “global warming” to “climate Change” to be exactly what it is- a PR move when it was obvious tha the earth has not been warming for the last 10 years. And somehow, if people decide they don’t want to be taxed to death by a theory that was created by those that want to demonize the West by the bogus and every changing global warming/cooling/changing crowd …. then we should just protest them b/c we are running out of time.
I just hope enough people wise up to the climate change con to make them all look like the nodding heads that they are are ….
When the climate turned in the Grand Minimums, the marginal lands were abandoned. During Grand Maximums, the marginal lands are brought back into production, as the population inevitably outstripped the good lands.
If Hansen has his way, we will return to those brutal times.
Rising cost of Energy has always taken marginal lands out of production.
For the US, Cap & Trade is a death sentence no matter how well written or intentioned. They will find a way to pervert it, and in doing so, drive the maximum amount of land out of production.
Gosh! Some of us have gone positively [snip] over this.
“Smokey (17:23:57) :
“Have you compared GISS with other data sources?”
Yes, let’s look at that: click”
This graph is a little easier to read :
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v1/n4/fig_tab/ngeo157_F1.html
You can see that GISS starts to depart from where it had been tracking at around the year 2000. By 2004 even an unlearned eye can see the departure. And by 2006 it is laughably arrant.
May I caution against demonizing anyone in this debate, including Hanson.
The Warmist crowd demonized many serious scientists early in this debate, falsely claiming they were “in the pay of big oil”, etc. As a result, several skeptic scientists have received death threats, and worse.
We do not want to encourage this sort of reprehensible behaviour.
Hanson is out of line – but he is his own worst enemy, and has no credibility among intelligent people.
Regards, Allan
Smokey (17:23:57) :
Not sure where you got your data from.
I just downloaded HADCRUT3V and GISTEMP sets, plotted them over the same time span and got this result:
http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/3525/hadcrutgisstemp.jpg
Both linear curve fits have similar slopes 5.88e-3 vs 5.96e-3 deg C/year
I see no lies here, do you?
Bill
I think he should be played by Wallace Shaw (who played Vizzini in the Princess Bride). link “Inconceivable!”