'We don’t have a leader who is able to grasp [the issue] and say what is really needed. Instead we are trying to continue business as usual,' say James Hansen. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
Posted on 12/02/2009 3:21:07 PM PST by Libloather
Copenhagen climate change talks must fail, says top scientist
Exclusive: World's leading climate change expert says summit talks so flawed that deal would be a disaster
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 2 December 2009 20.54 GMT
The scientist who convinced the world to take notice of the looming danger of global warming says it would be better for the planet and for future generations if next week's Copenhagen climate change summit ended in collapse.
In an interview with the Guardian, James Hansen, the world's pre-eminent climate scientist, said any agreement likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed that it would be better to start again from scratch.
"I would rather it not happen if people accept that as being the right track because it's a disaster track," said Hansen, who heads the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York.
"The whole approach is so fundamentally wrong that it is better to reassess the situation. If it is going to be the Kyoto-type thing then [people] will spend years trying to determine exactly what that means." He was speaking as progress towards a deal in Copenhagen received a boost today, with India revealing a target to curb its carbon emissions. All four of the major emitters – the US, China, EU and India – have now tabled offers on emissions, although the equally vexed issue of funding for developing nations to deal with global warming remains deadlocked.
Hansen, in repeated appearances before Congress beginning in 1989, has done more than any other scientist to educate politicians about the causes of global warming and to prod them into action to avoid its most catastrophic consequences.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Sort of like he did for the Chicago Olympics.
LOL!!
Now that didn't take long. :o)
"In an interview with the Guardian, James Hansen, the world's pre-eminent climate scientist, said any agreement likely to emerge from the negotiations would be so deeply flawed that it would be better to start again from scratch."
Said like a true scientist...looking for a whole new slew of funding. LOL!!!
As much as the guy has disgusted me and still does, at least he now acknowledges the problem with gamed data and the like.
It’s his own head he’s in effect chopping off here, having shot his mouth off in support of all this for so long.
I sure wish our leaders would be as frank and open to what has taken place.
LOL, too true.
Why isn’t James Hansen under investigation by the NASA internal review boards, the NIH, and the FBI?
Why is this man not under investigation by the US Atterney General and the US Congress?
How little credibility does a news publication have left that it’s employees and editors would solicit and suggest validity to an interview with a mastermind behind the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the human race?
One of the visual aids used by Hansen that convinced Congress to take action on warming.
Well, no, it hasn't. That's part of the reason it's a controversy - these academics have been stonewalling the FOIAs of two countries, conspiring to silence and marginalize critics and to cover up the evidence that they had. Had the data been given the consideration it's due, especially given the immensity of the expense of the actions demanded, we wouldn't be having this conversation now.
algore is Hansen’s AGW butt-boy. al, what do you think about this? al, al, hello, hello.
Let's test that hypothesis.
Dr. James Hansen:
B.A. in Physics and Mathematics with highest distinction in 1963, an M.S. in Astronomy in 1965 and a Ph.D. in Physics, in 1967, all three degrees from the University of Iowa. He participated in the NASA graduate traineeship from 1962 to 1966 and, at the same time, between 1965 and 1966, he was a visiting student at the Institute of Astrophysics at the University of Kyoto and in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Tokyo.
Dr Timothy F. Ball:
Ball has a B.A. degree from the University of Winnipeg, an M.A. degree from the University of Manitoba in 1970 in Geography, and a Ph.D. degree in climatology from the University of London, England in 1983, writing a thesis analyzing historical weather records from Canada's north. Ball taught geography at the University of Winnipeg from 1973 to 1996, starting as a Sessional Lecturer and retiring as a Professor.
Since the discussion isn't about hyperfine hydrogen emission lines or stellar evolution, it sure looks like Tim Ball trumps Hansen in the climate expert field, especially in the historical climate record department.
At first I thought, “Cool, he’s come around”. Then I read this:
>>”In Hansen’s view, dealing with climate change allows no room for the compromises that rule the world of elected politics. “This is analagous to the issue of slavery faced by Abraham Lincoln or the issue of Nazism faced by Winston Churchill,” he said. “On those kind of issues you cannot compromise. You can’t say let’s reduce slavery, let’s find a compromise and reduce it 50% or reduce it 40%.”
He added: “We don’t have a leader who is able to grasp it and say what is really needed. Instead we are trying to continue business as usual.”<<
That last part is the scariest. It is right out of Slouching towards Serfdom. The “planners” admit they need a “leader” with the will (think Stalin or Hitler) to MAKE everyone follow their plan and we will thank them in the end.
Notice he is actually, in a clever way, saying the main problem is the world of “elected politics” within the context of saying that a compromise is not an option.
This guy is scary - if he has any power.
“respected researchers”?
Ever seen one caught red-handed who wasn't repentant, D1? :o)
"It’s his own head he’s in effect chopping off here, having shot his mouth off in support of all this for so long."
It's his career he's concerned.
I can only WISH it were his head.
Say, let's pass the hat & send this guy on a vacation to some paradise like Iran!!
He pulled one one-hundreth of the crap he pulled on us & he'd have someone else chopping his head off.
"I sure wish our leaders would be as frank and open to what has taken place."
Amen.
But, we know better.
Even when they DO tell the truth, and admittedly that ain't too often, one has to cock their head, raise an eyebrow and seriously wonder what it is they really want. LOL
Sorry to be so cynical, but they MADE me so!!
I am a genuine victim. LOL
This creep would have been preaching that the Copenhagen agreement must be done now, if those pesky emails were not revealed. This is his way of back-pedaling because if there is an investigation, his name will be in the mix of all the deceit planned over many years. He knows the gig is up, and is covering his Phat *ss.
Sandor’s company, Climate Exchange PLC, owns the major exchange for these emissions, the ECX. The Isle of Man-based company also owns the voluntary American counterpart, the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), where Sandor is listed as chairman and founder, and sits on the board of directors with Maurice Strong. It is also worth noting that the CCX was originally funded with grant money from the Joyce Foundation, grants which were awarded to Sandor while Barack Obama was still at the Joyce Foundation. Barack Obama will be in Copenhagen next week at the UNFCCC’s 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to discuss climate change actions on behalf of the United States, and he has advocated for a mandatory cap and trade system in the US and the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.
I have a different take on this - I do not believe that he has acknowledged any "problem with gamed data and the like" other than that the release of the emails and data is becoming a PR problem. He calls for an "investigation" and yet he has already prejudged the outcome before such an investigation has even begun.
From the article, Hansen admitted the controversy could shake public's trust, and called for an investigation. "All that stuff they are arguing about the data doesn't really change the analysis at all, but it does leave a very bad impression," he said..
So, the fraud/hoax/scandal doesn't really change any analyses, it only causes a PR mess, which he perhaps believes can be swept off of the front pages if an 'investigation' is going on.
I don't see any evidence that he is damaging himself in any way here - rather, he is still an unapologetic true believer and an eco-extremist.
major bookmark!
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