Dr. James Hansen arrested in coal protest at the White House, see the photo below.
From the Wonk Room » Around The World, Activists Arrested For Protesting Coal’s Destruction
More than 100 people were arrested today during Appalachia Rising, the largest national protest to end mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. Arrests included Appalachian residents; retired coal miners; renowned climate scientist, James Hansen; and faith leaders. After a march from Freedom Plaza and a rally at Lafayette Park, more than 100 staged a sit-in in front of the White House to demand President Obama follow his own science and end mountaintop mining.
“The science is clear, mountaintop removal destroys historic mountain ranges, poisons water supplies and pollutes the air with coal and rock dust,” said renowned climate scientist James Hansen, who was arrested in today’s protest at the White House. “Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, can and should be abolished. The time for half measures and caving in to polluting industries must end.”
Here’s our buddy Jimbo, looking dapper in a fedora, tie, dockers, and cuffs:
Jimbo’s starting a rap sheet:
June 23, 2009 Dr. James Hansen of NASA GISS arrested
James Hansen and unidentified woman under arrest by WV state trooper. Photo credit: Antrim Caskey, Rainforest Action Network Field Photography
I wonder if he still thinks the west side highway will be underwater due to sea level rise in 20 years?
And as an added bonus, from the Climate is not Weather except when we say it is Department, the Wonk Room has a link to this story:
Meanwhile, Los Angeles hit an all-time record 113°…
h/t to Tom Nelson and WUWT reader Ron de Haan
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He should retire and do the environmentalist thing full-time.
More than 100 people were arrested today during Appalachia Rising, the largest national protest to end mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining.
I had more people than that attend my last backyard beerfest. We mostly protested the rising cost of energy and its consequent effect on beer prices.
“Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, can and should be abolished. The time for half measures and caving in to polluting industries must end.”
I find it difficult to understand how this sort of environmental vandalism can go on in the 21st century. I must reluctantly way that I’m with James Hansen on this one. Whether a convicted Govt employee should indulge in this sort of thing is another matter- although I guess he is still entitled to free speech.
Tonyb
What a conundrum the progressives in power have:
On one side they have the powerful Green lobby wanting to shut down coal.
On the other side they have the huge contribution from the UMWA mine workers union pushing to keep union jobs.
They seem to be between a (Black) rock and a (Green) hard place
Aw, I cant say much, I used to do the same thing at the nuke testing site in NV:) Hansen has made it very clear he is against coal energy in any form, I dont know why this suprises anyone. Mountaintop clearing .. shame on them. So give us a working alternative… build some nukes. Or better still.. outfit every building and structure in our cities with wind and solar, suplimented by natural gas, hydro, or nuke locally and make areas responsible for their own power usage instead of killing the rest of us to keep the streetlights every two feet in Vegas on …
To top things off, these rude climate perturbers stopped puffing mostly little plumes now they’re belching serious VEI 3-4+
But protest at a volcano and you’ll get big hot rocks thrown at ya!
Djozar says:
September 28, 2010 at 11:31 am
Someone please find a time machine and send these hippies back to the sixties (1860′s would be fine).
#
How about Germany, a few years before WWII. They could be part of the first enviro-wacco movement.
I strongly suspect Hansen wants to be arrested. It adds to his resume as a concerned activist. I also strongly suspect his arrest is a heck of a lot different than your’s or mine would be. He probably gets a private jail cell & doesn’t have to share it with 300#, tattooed, Bubba. And In the morning we can hear the guard call out to him, “Well Mr. Hansen, will that be a latte or a cappuccino with your eggs benedict?”
How in the heck could NASA allow someone with such clear bias to head GISS?
Let’s think it over again: He’s seeking for a higher position in government! and that’s very probable for him to obtain it, something like a Climate Tsar or even a Secretary! . Could you imagine how could it be?.
That would justify to buy a lot of popcorn…to wait for the end of times!
I understand about the good Dr’s rights as an American to protest – but as a very public figure, he trades on NASA’s reputation. Rightly or wrongly.
And conversely – raises questions about his commitment to impartiality when faced with ambiguous data. Can NASA absolutely warrant – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that his analysis is unimpeachable? If so – who is making that call?
Btw – would he rather see the miners go underground ?
Just askin….
That’s (at least) twice Hansen has been arrested at protests.
Don’t we have a “three strikes and you’re out” law? In any case I hope the judge tells him if he’s arrested again they’ll lock his ass up and throw away the key.
Ahhh, the old evil of the day syndrome.
Now it is MTR as evil, tomorrow it will be nuclear as evil (again), after that having babies will be evil (again) , then cooling of the earth will be evil (again), by that time old CO2 will be evil (again) . . . . and somewhere along the way solar/wind will get their chance at evilness.
Next gov’t funded NASA study will answer the question, “How many
angelsevils can dance on the head of a pin?” Hansen as study leader? Sure, why not. He may have some additional moments while in jail waiting bail.John
I happen to know the deputy chief of the Park Police who is responsible for removing protesters from the White House. Great guy. Good stories. It seems that it happens pretty routinely. I don’t know the exact frequency, but it sounds like at least weekly.
People like to chain themselves to the fences. The Park Police come and remove them.
Hansen should not be in charge of GISS temperature records because he is so hyper partisan regarding global warming. In fact, climate scientists should not be in charge of the GISS temperature sensor network and post processing. The engineers who do this work need to be dispassionate about climate science and just focused on doing a good job of collecting temperatures. This whole post normal science thing is an abomination.
Having said that, I can understand the argument re: chopping off the tops of mountains. Why do it when there is so much coal available elsewhere in the USA? For that matter, why not construct more nuclear power plants to generate electricity?
Re: why he was arrested, the whole point was to get arrested to get more media coverage. It is a time honored ritual in the USA by now. The demonstrators do the bare minimum necessary to get arrested and the police try to handle them as gently as possible. If the demonstrators don’t get arrested then there is no publicity (so the demonstration was a waste of time from the demonstrators’ perspective).
Make no mistake; this is nothing more than an unholy alliance between a legitimate environmental concern, MTR, and a fictional one – the ever-morphing non-falsifiable CAGW/CC/CD construct. The very fact that Hansen was there proves this.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-butler/appalachia-is-rising-up-a_b_737872.html
“The climate movement can learn a lot from how these anti-MTR activists and groups work together to take a hard stand against Dirty Coal.
This weekend, those alliances come together in Washington, D.C. for Appalachia Rising!, billed as “a national response to the unmitigated destruction of Appalachia’s mountains, air and water through mountaintop removal coal mining.” The two-day conference this weekend will bring together scores of groups and speakers to discuss mountaintop removal and share stories, followed by a day of action that includes a rally and march in downtown D.C. on Monday, September 27, and a day of lobbying Congress on Tuesday.”
Hansen’s concern here is a false one. MTR is simply a convenient wagon to hitch his anti-C02, anti-coal circus act to.
For the record he is no relation. :o)
Yup, completely missed it.
Enneagram says:
September 28, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Let’s think it over again: He’s seeking for a higher position in government! and that’s very probable for him to obtain it, something like a Climate Tsar or even a Secretary! . Could you imagine how could it be?.
That would justify to buy a lot of popcorn…to wait for the end of times!
=====
Reply = We already have on socialist Climate Tsar! Please see:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/12/obama-climate-czar-has-socialist-ties/
Based upon his past writings, I wonder if he wouldn’t hold out for an even higher position, like Commisar of the Directorate of Social De-Engineering? He could team up with his old chums like Paul Erlich and have some REAL fun! No-child-per-family policy etc.
————-
Dave Springer,
For ideological environmentalists, it is more likely that they have a policy of three-strikes-and-you-are-in. In other words, you get arrested 3 times at 3 different environmental protests and you get their merit badge and they issue you slick looking environmental credentials.
John
He has plenty of time to rally, as he has a computer model manufacturing DATA for the fools to believe.
I’m not sure this story has anything to do with weather, it’s a man protesting about a method of mining which I can see has downsides………
CRS, Dr.P.H. says:
September 28, 2010 at 2:15 pm
I knew that. What I meant is that perhaps HE feels himself more competent for such a position.
[snip] REPLY: Your references to things that happened in WWII related to Dr. Hansen’s current issues won’t be tolerated here. Stop it. Final warning, you’ve been snipped a few times for crass comments, and even though we may share certain views on climate science I won’t tolerate this sort of juvenile stuff anymore. – Anthony
Doesn’t this guy ever go to work? Most of the scientists I know have barely enough time to eat, let alone wander down to the White House and bellow slogans through a megaphone.