Its the End of the World I Tell Ya!

The ever shrill and apocalyptic James Hansen (NASA, loose cannon) is now enumerating the species-kill that each coal fired electric plant would cause. Having designated carbon dioxide as the planetary poison, Hansen is now nearly hysterical in his attacks on all things CO2. He is well beyond the status of a dispassionate scientist. He is completely over the edge into frantic eco-terrorist territory, spreading the “end of the earth” panic as far and wide as he can.

In an article for the guardian.co.uk on 2-15-09, Hansen actually uses the “end of life as we know it”, shrieking for an end to fossil fuel use, and especially the hated coal. He starts, “coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet.” From there it is domino theory: this will cause that which will cause the end.” And, he asserts,

“The trains carrying coal to power plants are death trains. Coal-fired power plants are factories of death. When I testified against the proposed Kingsnorth power plant, I estimated that in its lifetime it would be responsible for the extermination of about 400 species - its proportionate contribution to the number that would be committed to extinction if carbon dioxide rose another 100 ppm.”

Hansen concludes, “your children will judge you”, a rather imperious threat of dubious value.

Hansen's data has been discredited, refuted, and he has even been disavowed by his former supervisor at NASA. Yet he not only continues to foam rabidly in his pursuit of ever more spotlights for his ambiguous and disputed hypotheses, he now charges lawmakers with the end of the world and all its species.

All due to the use of coal.

Hansen seems entirely unaware of other exacerbating factors in the warming of the globe, especially ignoring increased solar energy input during this solar cycle. He is well beyond rational discourse at this point, and has descended into screeching fear mongering and eco-terror in order to get his mug published.

Maybe he should run for president next time around. Then he could have a press conference – or more – every day and co-opt prime time on demand. I’m sure the mainstream media would accommodate eco-terror 24/7. After all, they currently accommodate econo-terror full time.