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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@Bill (19:41:36)
only considering the amount of polymer required, you need 350 kg polymer to harvest approx. 1.5 kg uranium per year. (of course further energy is required to build the support structures and to harvest, on the other side the polymere is recycable – i just want to keep this simple)
the energy content of 1.5 kg uranium equals 350*1.5 = 525 mill kg of coal.
therefore the energy of the harvested uranium exceeds the energy of the polymer IN LESS THAN 1 DAY.
references:
“…We submerged three adsorption cages in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 20 m at 7 km offshore of Japan. The three adsorption cages consisted of stacks of 52 000 sheets of the uranium-specific non-woven fabric with a total mass of 350 kg. The total amount of uranium recovered by the nonwoven fabric was >1 kg in terms of yellow cake during a total submersion time of 240 days in the ocean…”
http://peakoildebunked.blogspot.com/2006/01/207-uranium-from-seawater-part-1.html
“The energy content of a kilogram of uranium or thorium, if spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed and fully utilized, is equivalent to about 3.5 million kilograms of coal.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_development
Britain is, in my opinion, still a great country and the one from which we have derived much, if not most of our system of laws. [Nevertheless, I suspect that falsely yelling “Fire!” in a crowded British theater would be strongly discouraged, especially if it resulted in panic and bodily harm.]
To the best of my knowledge, though, Britain does not have a “First Amendment” [i.e., the first of ten of our Bill of Rights] as referred to by Mr. Dias and about which my comments were made.
In my opinion many of Mr. Hansen’s pronouncements and calls to action [made in the USA, subject to US law] are false alarms, based on flawed climate models. Many people may suffer severe harm from the results of his actions; this even includes many young impressionable schoolchildren who have been so indoctrinated by AGW alarmism that they have nightmares from fear that they are guilty of some great wrongdoing.
OT: just curious, when the British make a toast is the response spelled “Here, here!” or “Hear, hear!”?
[REPLY – The latter. ~ Evan]
OT, but as it’s a political-type thread, good news.
If I understand it correctly, Obama has decoupled carbon credits from the budget bill, which means the thing actually has to rise or fall on its *ahem* merits.
Ross and Evan
OT: just curious, when the British make a toast is the response spelled “Here, here!” or “Hear, hear!”?
[REPLY – The latter. ~ Evan]
More OT but funny titbit: Where in the byzantine liturgy the text reaches ” sophia orthi” , let us listen to the “right wisdom” of the gospel,( as in orthodoxy), Because : “orthi” phonetically also means “standing” the whole congregation gets up and listens standing.
According to the BBC : “Pen Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels have experienced torrid conditions …
That’s a misprint for “horrid,” a word more often used in the UK than here.
BTW my wife doesn’t understand me either. any help there
Yes. Count your blessings. (The above being one of them.)
And be careful what you wish for.
anna: #B^1
For more on the promise of breeder reactors, see the book Prescription for the Planet, here:
http://www.amazon.com/Prescription-Planet-Painless-Remedy-Environmental/dp/1419655825/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237957571&sr=1-1
I’ve read, in a post on the SeekingAlpha.com site, that there have been major uranium finds in Kazakhstan (Borot-land) recently. I googled for uranium discoveries and got several hits. I suspect a price rise would draw in more reserves.
Although I think it is well past warranted for him to get fired for crossing the line one too many times, I still think the man should get due process if such process is necessary to terminate his employment. Despite not having much faith in the legal system, much less a beauracratic legal system, I still think his due process rights have to be upheld. The reason I do is that, if the shoe were on the other foot, and he were upholding the side of debate that most of us at this site embrace, and there were gobs of people on some website calling for his firing, we’d want every just action due him before he lost his job. Obviously there would be a lot to gain and/or lose depending on which side you fall on if he does get fired (which I do not expect) for both him and us at that point were that the case. That such is not the case does not negate those points. There is plenty of evidence of his misdeeds during US gov’t service. He should be brought before a disciplinary committee, tried on the evidence, and dismissed from tax payer employment. Unless agency rules allow his supervisor to terminate him without committee actions that is.
It is just amazing how many comments this post has got. In any way you look at it, the guy attracts attention.
One other advantage of fast neutron reactors is that you can use them to process all kinds of nuclear waste besides just reactor fuel. You can, for example, use transmutation to convert very long lived isotopes into different isotopes with shorter half-lives. This reduces the length of time that materiel must be sequestered from the environment.
Bill,
Actually I think you are mistaken there. Talking is free speech, even of bribes. Plus, Hansen is a well known enough person, thanks to his advocacy, that he would fall outside of the normal slander-libel laws that protect private citizens. And you underestimate the huge negative waves of press this would generate even IF Hansen could be proven to have accepted bribes. There is no way any public figure is going to take a chance on this issue, especially with the Republicans hanging by a thread in Congress and heading into the 2010 elections. And simply nobody else with any real power in government cares because all the big shots, like Obama, Pelosi, Reid, etc are all sold-out to the AGW religion. Nobody wants to butt heads with them. On bribes, like Gore, Hansen would only cry out that he did it because the planet needed saving and he had exhausted normal means (like telling the straight truth) so he needed to use extraordinary means to get ‘the message’ out to the public. This cry of persecution by the mean money-grubbing industrialist-captive right-wingers would be repeated 24/7 on the cable news channels until you could sing it like a mantra in your sleep. So please, spare us the shallow rationalizations.
[REPLY – The latter. ~ Evan]
Thanks Evan; it was a minor itch that I didn’t know how to scratch.
Flipped Out over the Political Unreality.
“Just last week we highlighted a story claiming Global Warming would reduce the world’s population by more than 5 billion people, and now the solution to global warming is halve a country’s population. Tell me, if dramatic population reduction is the only solution to avoiding the calamitous result of…dramatic population reduction, then what, exactly, is the point?”
So frigging WHAT? answering my own frustrated quotation. Who in the hell CARES?
We are all going to DIE! (Is that some kind of new information for humanity by text through their cell phone?) Then we all scream, on TV Reality shows, OH MY GAWD! Surprise!!!! you dumb sucker, guess what, you are going to DIE! (sooner than you have prepared for) (Dumbass left his wife and four kids with no life insurance, spent it on pokies and beer.)
So what if everyone on earth dies of “natural causes” from failure to adapt to rising seas, heat waves, asteroid hits, volcanoes, tsunami, food shortage, diseases, war between tribes, and basic, retarded FAILURE TO ADAPT?
We are ALL going to die very soon and of ALL natural causes, murder, suicide, drug abuse, cancer, vitamin d deficiency, melanoma, Alzheimers, heart disease, old age, drowning in a bucket, strangling in our cot from a shoelace. Someone had better get used to it. “Get over it” These are all really NATURAL CAUSES, unless one is deluded about the nature of man and his world.
Do we have so few elders and children that death is unreal now? A myth?
How did we get so disoriented from our natural state?
What kind of new eternal utopia do these nutcases have in mind anyway? What do they think is natural to the human condition? Has no one ever been to school, or have too many ineducables been to “school”? We studied utopianism so many years ago.
Who is leaving a legacy of children and grandchildren anymore who even cares? Not Europe, not even ” special”New Zealand. Who would imagine that this deliberate infertility could save the earth? Save th earth from what, the sun compared to the humans? ( I cannot speak the p word anymore) P-a-n-t. Hangman.
The earth has taken care of herself just fine without us for gadzillions of minutes and hours, days, months, years and millennia, and we fret over our lightbulbs and cow farts that actually do nothing but feed our rhubarb.
What incredible narcissism we have. Outlaw mirrors and still waters.
I have a lot of question marks in this post, who can answer?
Hansen needs to be OUSTED (not just “fired”).
So the “democratic” process doesn’t work for him anymore??
Well…for his case (and others like him)…neither does it work for us!!
Fight CO2 fire with CO2 fire….I always say….
Anybody up for a civil disobedience protest where we wrest this megalomaniac from power??
Hey it has happened many times before and there is no reason it can’t happen now.
Hansen needs to be REMOVED. He travels the world seeking a revolution?
Well guess what: With that “revolution” he will have to contend with a more potent COUNTER-REVOLUTION staring him right in his smirking face!!
What a disgusting, revolting, and reprehensible chapter in American history that people like THIS are in power and control all of the misinformation across the globe.
Orwell would be intrigued by Hansen, no doubt. A character for his book, for sure.
Long live the republic!
CHRIS
Norfolk, VA, U.S.A. [such as it is]
Ross: No sweat. (History has to be good for something.)
If Hansen was not bad enough…you have his pal Obama capitalising on the tragedy of the floods in North Dakota with his global warming remarks.
PAY NO MIND THAT THIS WAS SNOWIEST WINTER EVER RECORDED IN NORTH DAKOTA!! And all that snow has to melt…
Mr. Commander-In-Chief: To say a ludicrous statement like you did today…how ******* stupid do you think we are??
OK….sorry…um….I get it…. a lot of us are stupid enough to believe your claims.
But for the rest of us…and all of the intelligentsia that you are beginning to marginalize and alienate on the issue of AGW [from both sides of the aisle] you are treading on very thin ice with such careless words (or thick ice as the case may be).
Long live the repubilc! {LOL I’m not sure I am saying that]
Chris
Norfolk, VA, U.S.A. [such as it is]
I wouldn’t call the Soros money a bribe. (Hansen didn’t change his stance on account of it.) But it does seem to me as if it’s a bit of a conflict of interest.
WakeUpMaggy (21:25:53) :
No need to answer any of your questions. They are all rhetorical and a damn powerful statement of fact.
Thanks for that….I needed that….and am saving it for future reference.
Damn well said!
Chris
Norfolk, VA
President ‘has four years to save Earth’
Barack Obama has only four years to save the world according to Nasa scientist Jim Hansen…
warning!!! NEW WORLD ORDER !!!!! you get this?????
do you?
anna v Why is this coming from australia?
could it be the lib’s control the presses of the usa? humm?
that might get snipped lol
thank you mods for the time and effert u put into all these bloggs
Thank Chris,
I thought I was on a demented rant . There is just no perspective anymore. I needed the feedback.
(Until the 30-40’s start trying to support their destitute parents and demented grand parents)
This seems like a safe place for realists to try to get a grip, FGS! Isn’t it? Tell me! This is about the only place I’ve found any objectivity, aside from Solarcyle24.com
“To desire, therefore, reality, is the quest of prayer”
It’s a shame I find myself on the same side of the debate as you people who, Didn’t Listen. What we’re going to miss out on is the chance to do fake panic deaths while attending Hansen and co’s anti coal protest rallies.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103844
WakeUpMaggy (22:14:22) :
Yeah. Objectivity. You gotta love that tried and true friend of pure unadulterated logic!
Funny that you mentioned solarcycle24 I toggle back and forth to that site too (see my latest post LOL).
Hang in there. You get it. A LOT of us get it. We just gotta figure out how to mobilse and take down this ******* 800-pound gorilla that is wreaking havoc on the public (and private) scientific trust.
Besides being in interesting times with all of the human controversy that is ensuing because we have complete IDIOTS that have highjacked the scientific world [I won’t mention any names…..Hansen, Gore, Holdren]…we also live in historic times in regards to the natural world.
And with that I leave you with the mantra for 2009….something that is repeated oft and again….day after day:
The sun is blank. No sunspots.
The sun is blank. No sunspots.
The sun is blank. No sunspots.
Ad infinitum.
Well I have stayed up way to late. To bed!
Hang in there. And….let’s mobilise!
Long live the Republic!
Chris
Norfolk, VA
Paul R (22:22:14) :
“It’s a shame I find myself on the same side of the debate as you people who, Didn’t Listen. What we’re going to miss out on is the chance to do fake panic deaths while attending Hansen and co’s anti coal protest rallies.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103844”
HAHA leave it to the best animated programs out there to level high criticism.
Thanks for that.
Chris
Norfolk, VA
“evanmjones (20:33:37) : If I understand it correctly, Obama has decoupled carbon credits from the budget bill, which means the thing actually has to rise or fall on its *ahem* merits.”
Do you have links to this story? Thanks.
Yeah know, I had to skip a few hundred posts on this thread, just to say……
I agree with you all, and in all honesty, I voted to fire that creep on a knee jerk reaction to the poll. But he has his right and I would never think about firing someone for thinking something contrary to the norm.
That said, he SHOULD be fired for misrepresentation/falsification of true data by hiding real temperatures and readings under concocted proxies.
All ignoring REAL scientific understanding/proven truths that we have a rational understanding of.
AND the same person is controling recordings(proxy) of temperature readings paid for by the public, yeah, a public paid employee lying about real temperature data.
John the other hand,
For a modeler, …. he does not a bad job of manipulating data to get his desired result, even without real data to prove his theory. For what ever reason( he maybe a good speaker or pontificator
), he has a cultist personality. And that can go along way with AGW crowd.