Daryl Hannah, scientist arrested at W.Va. mine protest
SUNDIAL, W.Va. (AP) — More than two dozen people — including actress Daryl Hannah and NASA climate scientist James Hansen — were arrested Tuesday in the latest protest in a growing civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop removal in Southern West Virginia.
…
State Police said about 30 people were charged Tuesday afternoon after they blocked State Route 3 near a Massey Energy subsidiary’s coal processing plant in Raleigh County.
Full AP story here
In a statement distributed by the Rainforest Action Network, whose executive director was also arrested, Dr. Hansen said:
I am not a politician; I am a scientist and a citizen. Politicians may have to advocate for halfway measures if they choose. But it is our responsibility to make sure our representatives feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not what is politically expedient. Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be abolished.
No Jimbo, you are an activist and advocate for a cause.
Note to NASA: Now can you fire this guy?
Meanwhile, back at the RealClimate ranch today, the sound of crickets…
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“… the guy has balls to stand up for what he believes.’
Stuff and nonsense! The kids on the street in Tehran have balls. All Hansen has is a swollen ego and a talent for self-advertisement.
I am shocked!
Does this disregard for environment extend to the various rainforests that are being burned. Afterall “its only a few trees”.
Dr Reese
Nice Blog.
Saw the bit about Honey bees. They are decling in the UK too but the Govt has only allocated a tiny sum to deal with it. A big mistake as they are the building blocks of our food chain.
Tonyb
“Gary Strand (08:22:19) :
Wow. I can’t believe the number of people who want Hansen fired for his opinions and advocacy thereof. He’s not passing himself off as any kind of NASA or government spokesman; what exactly is the problem with his use of his right to free speech?
You don’t like his views? Too bad.”
Let me break this down for you. The issue is separate here. He has no right to trespass on business property and interfere with commerce.
If you don’t like your bank, tell us. You will be arrested if you take cameras and a movie star into the vault and interfere.
Your strawman is getting him “fired for his opinions”/
No it is getting fired for illegal physical behavior. Free speech doesn’t grant free trespassing rights. I can disagree with the Pres. I can’t throw tomatoes or shoes.
bill: “Destroying the American wilderness is no different to the rain forest destruction in other countries. it is WRONG.”
Sounds to me like you’re making a moral assertion. Justify.
It’s called civil disobedience, and Hansen has as much right to engage in it as anyone else.
~snip~
Stop with the name calling. ~dbstealey, mod.
Note to people that are comparing Dr. Mike Griffin’s departure from NASA to James Hansen.
Dr. Griffin is required to submit his resignation as he is a Senior Executive Service (SES) member that serves at the pleasure of the president. Dr. Griffin was not fired, he was simply not reappointed by the new administration that wanted to put their own team members into place.
As someone with a LOT of inside insight related to why Dr. Griffin was not reappointed, his position on Global Warming was a quatanary consideration at best.
Once the seas were considered a inexhaustable source of food. (only true when you go out with your 2 man boat and net) now fish “stocks” are at danger level and ineffectual limits have been european-wide (globally?) imposed. Once the seas were considered large enough for all toxioc waste/sewage/garbage to be absorbed without problem. This was true when populations were small.
We have shown that the ocean is a limit resource/dump.
Rain Forrests seemed to be so massive that we could not harm them. But give man a big enough machine/fire and a desire for profit and we have decimated them.
Has anyone here looked a google earth? the destruction of mountains is significant. One day you, or probably your children, will realise how short sighted you have been.
“Does Hansen’s civil disobedience actually stop Hansen from doing his day job effectively?”
I think it might – whose time was he on when the photo was taken? If he books leave when he’s out protesting, he must have racked up quite a few days this year!
If James Hanson wantsto do something effective to stop global warming, all he needs to do is resign and let his successor adjust the GISTEMP series back to something approaching reality at around 0.3C lower.
Yeah, yeah yeah, Hansen has balls. We all see that … He’s thinking with them.
Those defending Hansen:
With this stunt, Hansen has shown us all something about his character. Not content to go through channels to accomplish something, he (like others of his generation) wants to shortcut. Shortcuts are not an acceptable way to achieve an aim.
Protests in the street and at industrial sites are not “clever”, or “practical”, or “cool”, or whatever word you want to find. They are stupid. To this day I know people who earnestly believe that demonstrations “ended” the Vietnam war. They didn’t. What they did was embolden the enemy and cost lives. People blocking nuclear transportation and getting their legs cut off were stupid. Rachel whats-her-name getting run over by a bulldozer was stupid.
“Awareness” is more than just getting arrested. Every time I see anyone doing this (and that includes picketing abortion clinics), I lose any respect I might have had for their cause.
Just because Hansen, or you, believe passionately in something does NOT give you some sort of right to force your passionate belief on ME, or others. I happen to think that Hansen is WRONG, and I’m equally passionate in that belief. However, you won’t see me picketing his office or getting arrested trying to make a point.
This insane stunt WAS related to the AGW agenda, the whole lead-up was about “dirty coal” and mentioned the damage done to future generations. Most likely they chose this method of mining as a (not so) sneaky way to get some of their detractors on-side, after all, who could possibly condone cutting down a mountain??? It’s for the children!
I, for one, have absolutely nothing against this sort of mining, and neither did you until Mr. “Awareness” told you about it. Shame on those who are so easily manipulated. Did you think some “evil” rich guy came along one day and said, “Hey, let’s just cut the whole mountain down!” ? Of course not. There are historical and economic reasons this is being done. How many died in conventional mines in the region? If that pile of coal is as stable as Turtle Mountain, I say CUT IT DOWN AND BURN IT.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Slide
http://www3.sympatico.ca/goweezer/canada/frank.htm
http://www.frankslide.com/faq.html
http://www.ags.gov.ab.ca/geohazards/turtle_mountain/turtle_mountain.html
bill (09:04:31) :
bill,
Before you take an aspirin and lie down, consider: The U.S. doesn’t have much in the way of rain forests. And the temperate forest cover in the U.S. has increased some 40% over the past century — due to conservation efforts that had very little to do with “environmentalism.” Yet you launch an attack on the U.S. based on… what, exactly? The fact that in other parts of the world, some indigenous folks burn their trees? And what kind of a skewed belief system do you have to believe that just because you are concerned, then others must be unconcerned about the environment?
Think about this: if, as you state, ‘destroying the American wilderness is no different’ than destroying rain forests… and if destroying rain forests is “WRONG“, then wherever you sleep at night, and wherever you drive during the day, used to be a ‘wilderness’ area. How does that fit into your moral relativism, which allows you to state that everyone else except you is “WRONG“?
Better make that two aspirins.
Bill:
The area is called Ridges and valleys for a reason. You are being short sighted if you think they are mountains. When I lived in the desert the elevation changes were greater than they are here in the ridge and valley region of East Tennessee. I have driven through the restored areas of Tennessee and Kentucky. I have seen pictures of the area before the reconstruction was started in the 30s due to the damage of poor farming practices.
Go live in the desert for a few years for a comparison with what you are haveing a problem with.
Flattening a few ridges actually improves the area and makes it more user friendly for humans and animals. Of course it has only been going on for a few million years.
Granted, I’m not real fond of wearing a diamond on my finger if it was taken from the depths of a mountain. On the other hand, diamond dust is very important and is used in several important industries. Created diamonds and created diamond dust will eventually take over the inventory of diamonds. Which is fine by me. But energy is another thing altogether. I can easily live with some people telling me I can’t wear diamonds. I cannot so easily live with some people telling some of us we cannot have access to the energy needed to earn a living. Ending the mining of mountain tops for baubles? Don’t have a problem limiting this. Ending the mining of mountain tops for energy? Whose livelihoods should I disallow? Which country should be told to regress into 3rd world status? How many people will I allow to die?
jorge c. (07:08:51) :
Jorge, Hansen is protesting governmental policies which allow the continued exploitation of coal as a source of energy, and he said as much prior to being arrested. NPR had an audio clip of this statement, which I can’t find at the moment, but the salient part of the speech was: (if I may paraphrase) was:
This is about coal…
He went on to hurriedly express his views about coal’s CO2 pollution and its contribution to Global Warming.
Ignoring the unproven connection between warming and CO2, the primary purpose of his public demonstration is to influence policies on U.S. energy production. This is more than just unbecoming for the boss of a government science agency; it demonstrates the clear conflict of interest which has characterized his career since he “went public”. GISS must be non-partisan to effectively pursue scientific research. It can’t be expected to walk this line under James Hansen.
Calls for Hansen to step down are appropriate. They became appropriate years ago when Hansen (who is paid by public money) went public trying to influence public and legislative policy by his protests and public statements. He has said he wants to constraint coal production which will force up prices and put (most likely) thousands of people out of work. Whether he gets the amendments to Waxman / Markey that he wants, the bill will alter U.S. energy policy for generations.
Anthony’s use of his own non-profit public forum to call for Hansen’s removal is an appropriate use of freedom of speech. Keep in mind that Hansen is calling for thousands of implicit job destruction in Tennessee.
Gary Strand (17:27:16) :
Jim Hansen sure is a lightning rod for some folks.
————————————————————
That is his intention. His often ludicrous claims are designed to intentionally annoy people. He’s one of those people who must believe that there is no such thing as bad publicity.
It’s protest theater and everyone gets to play a part. Continuing the metaphor, Hansen is playing the biblical prophet (or the guy in the sandwich boards that proclaim “the End is near!”, depending on your point of view) in this little drama but, unfortunately for him, he’s little more than a bad actor.
There’s nothing wrong with mountain top removal, as long as it’s done right. Think of all the spectacular view lots in the Appalachians they can create by removing mountain tops after building roads up to them. (Apologies to the overly sensitive: I’m a builder and developer.)
They’ve had problems with holding ponds before and I trust that they’ve learned from them. Here’s a link to the worst mining-related disaster in West Virginia history.
http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/buffcreek/buff1.html
Happened in 1972. I was there a few months later. It wiped out a couple of small towns. What happened to Pittstown Coal Company afterward was a great inspiration to other coal companies to clean up there act, so to speak.
Apparently, the only thing that gets a government employee or politician out of office these days is to, shall we say, have more than one ride. Join an illegal protest? Get arrested? Fudge on some numbers? Do sloppy research? No problemo.
Picked this up on the off-topic thread and think its entirely on-topic.
Mike Monce (10:14:52) – Tips and Notes thread:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/06/24/the-climate-change-e-mails-epa-doesnt-want-you-to-see/
“The emails, attached hereto, consist of the following:
1) a March 12 email from Al McGartland, Office Director of EPA’s National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE), to Alan Carlin, Senior Operations Research Analyst at NCEE, forbidding him from speaking to anyone outside NCEE on endangerment issues; ”
So Hansen can air his views but Carlin can’t? So is this ‘government by the people for the people’ or ‘government by the people who decide what the people should know and think’?
Goes way beyond AGW, freedom of speech etc.
Again, I regret the day I voted for any Democrat and will not do so again unless said Democrat has publicly stated his or her opposition to AGW and its cancerous side-shoots and has a voting record to prove it. I challenge any long-term Democrat who questions this science to do the same. I have written to all my representatives and have told them my position and what I will do if they vote for any of this garbage.
Wow. As I said, Pamela, the likes of us have no home. We shelter under the Big Tent until our liberal brethren regain their sanity and come back to us. That is to say, when they return to the glen of genuine liberalism from the radical wilderness into which they have strayed.
When that happy day will come, quien sabe?
Alrighty, perhaps I don’t know the full details of the situation, but…what the hell are you people complaining about? Last I checked, we had the right to assemble and petition for the redress of grievances. Why should the guy be fired for exercising his Constitutional rights? Dr. Hansen sounds like a perfectly upstanding citizen of this great nation to me, standing up for his beliefs and making his voice heard, exercising the rights we’re guaranteed.
Two words: Hatch Act.