Your View on Climate Change
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* Copenhagen climate change conference 2009
Copenhagen climate conference
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
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* Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 December 2009 20.54 GMT
* Article history
James Hansen
'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
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.
James Hansen talks to Suzanne Goldenberg Link to this audio
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. But he is vehemently opposed to the carbon market schemes – in which permits to pollute are bought and sold – which are seen by the EU and other governments as the most efficient way to cut emissions and move to a new clean energy economy.
Hansen is also fiercely critical of Barack Obama – and even Al Gore, who won a Nobel peace prize for his efforts to get the world to act on climate change – saying politicians have failed to meet what he regards as the moral challenge of our age.
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."
The understated Iowan's journey from climate scientist to activist accelerated in the last years of the Bush administration. Hansen, a reluctant public speaker, says he was forced into the public realm by the increasingly clear looming spectre of droughts, floods, famines and drowned cities indicated by the science.
That enormous body of scientific evidence has been put under a microscope by climate sceptics after last month's release online of hacked emails sent by respected researchers at the climate research unit of the University of East Anglia. 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.
The row reached Congress today, with Republicans accusing the researchers of engaging in "scientific fascism" and pressing the Obama administration's top science adviser, John Holdren, to condemn the email. Holdren, a climate scientist who wrote one of the emails in the UEA trove, said he was prepared to denounce any misuse of data by the scientists – if one is proved.
Taking a quick look in the past, and viewing the History of Governments, I heartily agree with James Hansen. It would be best, if the summit talks ended in failure, which will probably happen. I have been witness to many issues our government has tried to solve. The end result is a tremendous waste of time and money. Anytime one lets the government try and solve an issue, we, the people are inundated with research, committees, arguing between parties, self serving interests, and the list goes on. The end result is nothing, or some ridiculous inept proposal with failure the end result.
A recent example is the corruption of the General Motors and their attempt at electric cars. The EV 1, I beleive was produced by General Motors. The company wouldn't allow consumers to purchase the vehicles. They were all leased. When the consumers found out how good they were, they were very impressed. End result, GM let the lease holders know they were going to have to return the vehicles. There was nothing wrong with them, it was just GM became concerned because they were made so well. The lease holders returned the vehicles, and further investigation found that GM was intent on destroying them. The vehicles in California were trucked to Mesa, Az. and impounded in some obscure desert compound. Witnesses, previous lease holders, saw some vehicles destroyed already, and others waiting to be crushed. The lease holders asked GM to sell about 70 of these autos to those wanting to keep them for over 1 million dollars and GM refused. Now, are these the people we want to solve our climate crises? ABSOLUTELY NO. Ahhh, don't forget, our gov't is part of GM, remember the bailout. HA, HA. That's the gov't for you.
I say, keep the gov't out of our business. They are supposed to govern, not be in business with GM, or any other entity. It seems like this has changed. There are hundreds of thousands of people with viable alternatives to the crises we face. Maybe small in mumbers, but very smart in mind and creativity. For example, in Los Angeles right now, there is a fellow (God Bless Him) that puts GM and most of the car companies to shame. Why is it that "HE" is able to take a vehicle running on gas, and in a short period of time turn it into a wonderful electric auto. Those that have availed themselves of his skills are currently driving full size electric cars that out perform the gas guzzlers. He doesn't have unlimited funds, or millions or more in gov't bailouts, but still manages to make the car companies look stupid, which they aren't, just self servingl. I will not
mention his name in this article, but for those of us that know, WE KNOW.
NOW, BACK TO cLIMATE CHANGE. Does anyone want the US Gov't to take charge of climate control? Not me. They are a living example of failure in action, and very expensive at that. We cannot afford them to do so. In spite of the doomsday outlook many folks have about the upcoming 2012 events, life will go on. It will just be quite different from what we know of life today. Mother Nature has never failed life at cleaning house. She does a good job of it. Right now, a major concern in China is the sweeping, never ending encroachment of the sands. Destroying livlihoods, and homes, and villages. Decimating farmlands, in it's never ending journey. When will it end? When Mother Nature decides for it too, not before. Mt. St. Helens in Washington State changed the landscape quickly and dramatically. Life goes on in Washington. Tronadoes, hurricanes, mudslides, severe winters, all take their toll on our lives, and we plod onward, in spite of the obstacles. Solving the future
obstacles in our path is what we do best, so leave the problems for the people to solve. We have always done it before, and it always brings new opportunities for us to capitalize on. We will adjust, it's one of the things we do best. History has the anwers we are looking for. Ex: Many cultures live in deltas where the rains flood every year. Do the tribes run away? HELL NO. They just adjusted, and built their homes on stilts. Novel idea, huh? There are so many answers for today imbedded in the past, and are just coming to light. Another Ex: Many cultures lacked wood to build homes. Did they run away? NO, they just compacted earth and built with that material. Look at the great wall of China. Compacted earth. How long has that wall been around? Do ya think your home might last your lifetime?
Human beings are best when faced with challenges. It doesn't matter what the challenge. Remember when Kennedy told the world that we would be in space? Did we do it? Damn right we did. We are problem solving intelligient beings. Our minds are barely used, so no matter what is going to happen, we will perservere. It is not so much a matter of what is going to happen, but how are we going to deal with it. There is a solution to every obstacle, it is just how one prefers to look at the situation. So, we the people will deal with it, and we will win. We are all born winners, and there is nothing so great that we can't handle. What is your view???
written by Smokey Miller
20091220