Legendary climate activist James Hansen has cut loose at everyone over their climate failings, and has not spared politicians whom he says are “fraudulently” claiming to be taking climate action. But James Hansen’s rant sheds light on an unlikely figure who took a final opportunity to do the right thing.
Ex-Nasa scientist: 30 years on, world is failing ‘miserably’ to address climate change
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While Donald Trump and many conservatives like to argue that climate change is a hoax, James Hansen, the 77-year-old former Nasa climate scientist, said in an interview at his home in New York that the relevant hoax today is perpetrated by those leaders claiming to be addressing the problem.
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Hansen’s long list of culprits for this inertia are both familiar – the nefarious lobbying of the fossil fuel industry – and surprising. Jerry Brown, the progressive governor of California, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, are “both pretending to be solving the problem” while being unambitious and shunning low-carbon nuclear power, Hansen argues.
There is particular scorn for Barack Obama. Hansen says in a scathing upcoming book that the former president “failed miserably” on climate change and oversaw policies that were “late, ineffectual and partisan”.
Hansen even accuses Obama of passing up the opportunity to thwart Donald Trump’s destruction of US climate action, by declining to settle a lawsuit the scientist, his granddaughter and 20 other young people are waging against the government, accusing it of unconstitutionally causing peril to their living environment.
“Near the end of his administration the US said it would reduce emissions 80% by 2050,” Hansen said.
“Our lawsuit demands a reduction of 6% a year so I thought, ‘That’s close enough, let’s settle the lawsuit.’ We got through to Obama’s office but he decided against it. It was a tremendous opportunity. This was after Trump’s election, so if we’d settled it quickly the US legally wouldn’t be able to do the absurd things Trump is doing now by opening up all sorts of fossil fuel sources.”
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For once I agree with James Hansen – if President Obama had done what James Hansen had asked, President Trump’s task of dismantling the green tangle ensnaring US enterprise would have been that much harder.
Why did President Obama hesitate? Was he secretly a climate skeptic all along, who at the final challenge couldn’t bring himself to commit the USA to economic ruin? Or was he rattled by all the accusations that he was attempting to sabotage President Trump’s term of office?
Whatever the truth, when President Trump finally manages to liberate the USA from the clutches of the green monster, amongst all the others we shall have one unlikely politician to thank – former President Obama, who in the final days of his Presidency chose not to thwart the will of the American people.
Update (EW) – h/t Dr. Willie Soon, Mann tweets in defence of Governor Jerry Brown
I admire James Hansen but his attacks on @JerryBrownGov are unfair. Brown is a hero on climate.
There are honest differences of opinion on the role of nuclear in the transition from fossil fuels (I myself am skeptical). I think Jim owes Gov an apology!https://t.co/WCXIkuEw0I— Dr. Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) June 19, 2018
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why do i suspect the book will be remaindered pdq?
just like hildabeasts trashy excuse for blame everyone else did;-)
Looking back at 1988 (?) I wonder if James Hansen would have done anything differently – It signalled the start of 30 years of angst for society for very little gain.
Hansen is shocked that Democrats only care to apply their universal formula that solves all the problems the world has ever had:
1) Raise taxes.
2) Increase government power and influence over individuals and industry.
3) Enact wealth transfers.
Hansen is a “True Believer.” He’d probably be disappointed to learn that most of us see little difference between moonbats like him, and moonbats in the anti-nuke crowd.
Don’t forget his lawsuit against US claiming we have already ruined his grandchildren’s lives.
Almost certainly another of his failed predictions.
I can’t look at Jimmy “Hat Boy” Hansen without the opening bass riff of Seinfeld going off in my head…
I’m surprised Hansen is so down on Obama. One of his parting acts was to donate half a billion dollars to the Paris climate fund.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38661259 says in part:
No act of congress required…. I wish I had a petty cash box that big!
When the enemies are fighting themselves, stand back.
Hansen tipped his hand:
He is trying to overturn democracy itself with his lawsuit, and was hoping for the ultimate private extra judicial insider deal to do it.
I hope he and the other “climate change” warriors beat each other to death.
Thank God Trump saw through the climate scam, and thank God Obama did not sign off on Hansen’s grand theft.
ha ha. BBC report today, UK brewers give warning of a shortage of …..CO2 !!
“New York penthouse apartment”. They left that part out.
Sorry, no, it’s the Space Aliens who are to blame.
Which ones? The Tamarians? Kardashians? Those overgrown drooling ants from LV246? 🙂
The Hyperboleans!
Typical of a religion , who always treat ‘heretics’ worse than those that do not believe at all.
Only unquestioning and fully correct , belief is enough for people such as Henson .
The reason Obama, Merkel, Brown et al did nothing more than virtue signalling, is either because they don’t actually believe the global warming BS but know they have to pretend to believe in order to get votes, or because they do believe but are aware that the populace would rise up in a rage and overthrow any government that actually took measures to reduce emissions enough to produce the temperature reduction they claim we need.
In other words, they’re cognizant of political reality.
Funny how the entire system of elections, laws, and enforcement dictating our lives is stood on its head by an out of court settlement. I hope the EPA doesn’t find out about this.