I’ll be happy to forward any comments readers have to Hansen.
Two years ago, the nation’s top climate scientist wrote, “It seems to me that, as yet, it is difficult to use actions of our government as grounds for civil disobedience, however egregiously stupid those actions are” (see Hansen on “civil disobedience”). But like all of us, his positions have evolved over time.
Author Jeff Biggers reports at HuffingtonPost:
UPDATE: 2:30 EST: 94-year-old Ken Hechler, the legendary West Virginia congressman and coal miner hero who has been battling mountaintop removal since 1971 was arrested in a non-violent protest with NASA’s celebrated climate scientist James Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah, Michael Brune, the executive director of Rainforest Action Network, and Goldman Prize winner Judy Bonds. Vietnam veteran Bo Webb, and dozens of other coalfield residents were arrested by crossing onto the property of leading mountaintop removal coal mining company, Massey Energy–purposely trespassing to protest the destruction of mountains immediately above the Coal River Valley community.
In the face of recent Obama administration actions to regulate and not abolish mountaintop removal, which has wiped out 500 mountains and destroyed historic communities, the action launched a yearlong national campaign to bring mountaintop removal to an end.
“I am not a politician; I am a scientist and a citizen,” said Dr. James Hansen. “Politicians may have to advocate for halfway measures if they choose. But it is our responsibility to make sure our representatives feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not what is politically expedient. Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be abolished.”
Hansen just wrote “A Plea To President Obama: End Mountaintop Coal Mining,” in which he said:
The science is clear. Burning all fossil fuels will destroy the future of young people and the unborn. And the fossil fuel that we must stop burning is coal. Coal is the critical issue. Coal is the main cause of climate change. It is also the dirtiest fossil fuel — air pollution, arsenic, and mercury from coal have devastating effects on human health and cause birth defects.
Recently, the administration unveiled its new position on mountaintop coal mining and set out a number of new restrictions on the practice in six Appalachian states. These new rules will require tougher environmental review before blowing up mountains. But it’s a minimal step.
The Obama administration is being forced into a political compromise. It has sacrificed a strong position on mountaintop removal in order to ensure the support of coal-state legislators for a climate bill. The political pressures are very real. But this is an approach to coal that defeats the purpose of the administration’s larger efforts to fight climate change, a sad political bargain that will never get us the change we need on mountaintop removal, coal or the climate. Coal is the linchpin in mitigating global warming, and it’s senseless to allow cheap mountaintop-removal coal while the administration is simultaneously seeking policies to boost renewable energy.
Mountaintop removal, which provides a mere 7 percent of the nation’s coal, is done by clear-cutting forests, blowing the tops off of mountains, and then dumping the debris into streambeds — an undeniably catastrophic way of mining. This technique has buried more than 800 miles of Appalachian streams in mining debris and by 2012 will have serious damaged or destroyed an area larger than Delaware. Mountaintop removal also poisons water supplies and pollutes the air with coal and rock dust. Coal ash piles are so toxic and unstable that the Department of Homeland Security has declared that the location of the nation’s 44 most hazardous coal ash sites must be kept secret. They fear terrorists will find ways to spill the toxic substances. But storms and heavy rain can do the same. A recent collapse in Tennessee released 100 times more hazardous material than the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.
If the Obama administration is unwilling or unable to stop the massive environmental destruction of historic mountain ranges and essential drinking water for a relatively tiny amount of coal, can we honestly believe they will be able to phase out coal emissions at the level necessary to stop climate change? The issue of mountaintop removal is so important that I and others concerned about this problem will engage in an act of civil disobedience on June 23rd at a mountaintop removal site in Coal River Valley, West Virginia.
Experts agree that energy efficiency and carbon-free energies can satisfy our energy needs. Coal left in the ground is useful. It holds up the mountains, which, left intact, are an ideal site for wind energy. In contrast, mountaintop removal and strip mining of coal is a shameful abomination. Mining jobs have shrunk to a small fraction of past levels. With clean energy, there could be far more, green-energy jobs, and the government could support the retraining of miners, to a brighter, cleaner future.
Politicians may have to make concessions on what is right for what is winnable. But as a scientist and a citizen, I believe the right course is very clear: The climate crisis demands a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants that do not capture and safely dispose of all emissions. And mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be permanently prohibited.
President Obama remains the best hope, perhaps the only hope, for real change. If the president uses his influence, his eloquence, and his bully pulpit, he could be the agent of real change. But he does need our help to overcome the political realities of compromise.
We must make clear to Congress, to the EPA, and to the Obama administration that we the people want mountaintop removal abolished and we want a move toward a rapid phase-out of coal emissions now. The time for half measures and caving in to polluting industries is over. It is time for citizens to demand — yes, we can.
Readers know that while I don’t agree with everything Hansen says, particularly his approach to U.S. climate policy, he remains our top climate scientist, the scientist who has been right in his warnings about global warming longer than just about anybody else.
We need to get off of dirty coal as fast as is humanly possible, literally.
Related Posts:
- Right for 27 years: 1981 Hansen study finds warming trend that could raise sea levels
- Stabilize at 350 ppm or risk ice-free planet, warn NASA, Yale, Sheffield, Versailles, Boston et al
- Drilling off-shore is a “crazy thing” says Hansen on 20th anniversary of his famous testimony
- ‘Tipping Point’ — A non-technical Hansen piece
- Hansen’s plea for leadership to Nevada Gov.
- NASA’s Hansen responds to NYT’s Revkin
- Hansen throws cold water on cooling climate claim
- Dr. Hansen to Dr. Merkel: Carbon is forever — so ban new traditional coal plants now
- Hansen apologizes, warns against “averting our eyes”
- Hansen’s final Iowa testimony
- More swiftboating of James Hansen
- Another “Must Read” from Hansen: ‘Long-term’ climate sensitivity of 6°C for doubled CO2
- A Must Read: “Global Temperature Change,” by James Hansen et al.
- Hansen 1: Sea Level Rise
- Hansen on “Fossil Fuel Subsidies”
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Bravo Dr. Hansen!
A good place for ordinary citizens to join in:
http://theclean.org/
and the latest on Obama:
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/ 2009/ 06/ 23/ obama-urges-passage-of-climate-bill/ ?hp
Hansen is a true climate hero. Where can I send a check for his defense fund?
Dr. Hanson, you inspire us all.
Thanks for this post.
Only a few know how desperate the situation is and the effort required!
Those coal plants have to stop spewing CO2 like yesterday if there is any hope of avoiding the very worst of the worst situation!
It is pretty much confirmed that were on for probably 25m sea level whatever we do; were already drowning under the increase in extreme events and we are at 0.8C of 2C, our fixation; the world looks like its becoming one big kiln and is igniting even now with more and larger forest fires world wide;
A revolution is what is needed.
If anyone has trouble imagining what Dr. Hansen is describing, please take eight minutes to watch the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPixjCneseE) produced by some of Appalachia’s resident heroes — property owners, parents and environmentalists carrying out the fight on the ground. This video needs to go viral — as does the appeal Hansen asks us to send to the Obama Administration. We have to make President Obama do the right thing (and I believe he wants us to create the political climate that will allow him to).
Jim Hansen is scheduled to debate Massey Coal president Blankenship tomorrow (Wednesday).
http://sundaygazettemail.com/ comments?build=yes&ContID=200906220554
I suggest that you read the ‘comments’ section of this page only if you have a very strong stomach.
WV Public radio may broadcast the debate:
http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=10144
heres a related incident which has bearing on what the change required is up against everywhere…the video is shocking!
Police are turning activism into a crime
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ environment/ georgemonbiot/ 2009/ jun/ 22/ kingsnorth-fit-police-surveillance
Video footage showing the arrest of women who asked police for their for their badge numbers at the Kingsnorth climate camp last year exposes the police as disgracefully heavy-handed and repressive
Dr. Hansen is a man standing behind his convictions–based on solid scientific knowledge–and placing the well-being of future generations front and center. Fantastic work!
J Hansen, American.
Also:
“Obama Administration Takes Unprecedented Steps to Reduce Environmental Impacts of
Mountaintop Coal Mining, Announces Interagency Action Plan to Implement Reforms”
http://www.epa.gov/ owow/ wetlands/ pdf/ MTM_Release_6-11-09.pdf
(I know I saw this on one of the roundups at Climate Progress, but could not find it)
Supportive Thoughts, Best Wishes, and “Thank You” to Dr. Hansen, Darryl Hannah, and the Others
A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.
(Tacitus)
The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.
(Mahatma Gandhi)
It is urgent that we pose the questions of ethics and meaning that will enable us to confront the human, the social and the moral significance of our changing relationship with the natural world.
(Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard)
Her greatness lay in doing what everybody could do but doesn’t.
(Jennifer Granholm, first female governor of Michigan, speaking of Rosa Parks)
Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
(Margaret Mead)
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
(Martin Luther King Jr.)
We have sunk so low it has become the obligation of every decent, thinking individual to re-state the obvious!
(George Orwell)
What good am I if I know and don’t do . . .?
(Bob Dylan)
Be Well,
Jeff Huggins
Pretty nice post. I just came by your blog and wanted to say
that I have really liked browsing your posts. Any way
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
James Hansen; American hero.
Just how long can we avoid seeing the bleedingly obvious. No longer are we fighting to save our lifestyle, it is too late for that. our very survival is now at stake.
It is just as well that a few thousand may be enough to save humanity from extinction. There certainly will not be be 6 billion people in this world in 100 years time.
Do you think that Dr Hansen put himself in a position to be arrested because he is worried that in the future he may have to let his lawns die?
I have followed the climate debate increasingly closely in the last couple of years, primarily from a scientific and climate point of view, with less interest in the policy side. Of course I realise the policy side is important so I do try and make some effort to follow the policy issues.
I have been aware of Hansen’s advocacy for a while but I haven’t clearly understood what he is getting at. My impression has been that he is concerned about ‘tipping points’, which seems to be the fear of rapid changes being made to our climate, which we have no option but to ride out (if we keep going on our current path). It almost seems partly a ‘fear of the unknown’ issue. Or perhaps a strong environmental conscience that regards a mass extinction that man comfortably survives as a serious tragedy.
Spurred by this post I have done a quick google search of Hansen’s views on climate and from some of his communications it appears that the two serious issues he is concerned about are large levels of sea level rise, and mass extinctions, without suggesting that man’s existence would be seriously threatened.
I don’t post this to be argumentative, but to reflect back what opinion an occasional reader/skimmer of this blog happens to be passing through at this point in time.
Michael hauber, somewhere on the intertubes is a video of an interview with Dr. Hansen set in his office, with bookshelves in the background holding framed photographs of his grandchildren.
As I recall he was pretty clear that the primary reason he is a tireless advocate for action on climate change is those grandchildren.
Dr. Hansen,
Thank you for going to the frontlines for those of us who are unable to do so. This is a multi-front struggle to save a liveable climate for humanity and for civilization.
Yes, Dr. James Hansen is an American hero.
The likes of Martin Luther King.
I think that James Hansen is a megalomaniac. I don’t think he started out that way but it snowballed on him as he helped create a cause to dedicate himself to.
gtrip, that is idiotic. Dr. Hansen is enough of a scientist to realize how desperate the prognosis is for our planet, and enough of a man to refuse to flinch from his sense of moral obligation to fight on behalf of us all – EVEN YOU – to spare us from a terrible fate.
> Or perhaps a strong environmental conscience that regards a mass extinction that man comfortably survives as a serious tragedy.
I don’t think that man would “comfortably survive” a mass extinction. Biodiversity isn’t just about biologists loving rare species. For example, see this recent article on the effect of the loss of biodiversity on human disease pathogens that is happening NOW:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/202865
> It almost seems partly a ‘fear of the unknown’ issue.
In his case, I think it would be more aptly put as a “fear of the known” since he is one of the world’s top experts on Climate Change. He understands more than most the way in which our knowledge of this problem is changing, and the fact that projected changes have consistently been wrong by being too conservative. The changes are occuring more quickly and strongly than thought just a few years ago.
I did a Google news search to see the uptake of this story. As I suspected it was pathetic. Compared to the Jon & Kate split, it’s a non-story.
It’s times like this I want to scream. The media are idiots and our future is very much in their hands.
Dr. Hansen,
My children and I thank you so very very much.
I’ll follow Jeff’s list of quotations with an anonymous one:
I commend Dr. Hansen for taking this step. It won’t earn him much praise from his fellow scientists, but it’s the right thing to do.
6 Feb 1987 — 438 protesters were arrested at the Nevada nuclear test site. Among them were actor Martin Sheen and scientist Carl Sagan.
Source: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1304736.html
Our thanks to you, Dr. Hansen You’re a hero.
We need every scientist behind the IPCC report to do this all at once.
Dr. Hansen,
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.” –Mohandas Gandhi
Keep fighting the good fight!
(bangs forehead against desk repeatedly)
(regains consciousness….bangs forehead against desk repeatedly)
Michael Hauber,
Your missing the point. Big time.
A) Jim Hansen is not affraid of losing humanity, no climate scientist could be so daft. Jim Hansen however is affraid, very affraid of the consequenses of climate change for a lot off people, draught, storms, flooding, crop failures, indundations, los of farmland, topsoil degradation and finally ecosystem failures can have dire consequenses for humankind.
B) Jim Hansen is not affraid of tipping point beyond which climate change will run its own cause if we continue to emit GHG’s at present rate, Jim Hansen however is affraid, very affraid of the fact that beyond a certain tipping point nature itself will drive forward climate change regardless of the fact whether we live of die (or stop emitting CO2). This has to do with feed forward mechanisms.
C) Jim Hansen sees ecosystem collapse as a true danger to the wellbeing of the species Homo Sapiens. Ecosystems (and nature itself) provide lots of so called ecosystemservices to mankind without charge. Ecosystems clean up human waste water, ecosystems harbour medicinal plants, ecosytems provide the very air we breath. Ecosystems are resiliant it left to fend for themselves, but nowadays they rarely are left to fend for themselves, so they have become islands in a sea of human intervention. If key species (like top predators or important prey species) are lost, whole ecosystems could collapse. This is happening to South African marine life a we speak since sardines are migrating less fast and less far along the African coast. Ecosystem collapse is witnessed all over the planet at an alarming rate, and climate change contributes to it, big time, and for some climate victems it is enough to visit the southern parts of Autralia were a 7 year biblical draught combined with human stupidity caused forest fires on unprecedented scale. Or go to New Orleans were hurricane Kartina visited in august 2005 and which has still not recovered. Or visit Europe were flood after flood (last week in Austria) devastate mountain villages and low lying contries on the floodplantes of the Elbe, the Rhine, the Maas, the Rhone and the Loire.
Yes, Jim is very, very affraid. He is not alone in his angst. This is not a psychological condition. This is real and very well founded fear, fear for our current generation and for future generations who will be at the receiving end of the actions we do today, tomorrow and the next 10 to 15 years. Fear based on fact, based on the known and not on the unknown.
Sting wrote these lines in 1989:
Who’s gonna save a dying planet were popular icons failed…….
Jim Hansen could very well that guy!
Greetings, Ed Kuipers
Jim Hansen, thank you again, and keep on.
Don’t forget 350.org’s day of action on October 24, when we can join the chorus.
A true American. God bless him!
Jim Hansen is not just an American hero, he’s a World hero. People who have carefully read what he’s written and heard what he has to say cannot help but profoundly grateful for his dedication and concern for humanity. If only our elected officials has listened to him when he first spoke out.
Now we are faced with the nightmare of 300 billion metric tonnes of excess carbon in our atmosphere, about four Mt. Rainiers worth. See William Calvin’s slides at [http://williamcalvin.com/]. We don’t yet know how to get this stuff out of the air, and even more problematical, where to safely put it. We can’t let it get back out into the air.
It’s outrageous the companies like Massey Coal should be allowed to continue to exacerbate the enormous problem we face. I hope hundreds and then thousands of people will join Jim Hansen in non-violent protest. Nothing else seems to be working.
Thank you, always, Dr. Hansen, for standing up for all of us.
Hansen is a true hero and a leader for us all. We have to follow in his footsteps with civil disobediance.
Hansen is a very courageous scientist. Taking a public stand like this invites mud-slinging from political types. Many deniers accuse him of being more of an activist than a scientist (although the handful of scientists they rely on are nearly all political activists), and photos of an arrest at a peaceful protest add fuel to their fire.
While I certainly respect climate scientists for staying out of the public debate, I also think it’s important for some scientists to stand up, else all we have is a few advocates like Al Gore – ones that can be dismissed as politicians, and a number of contrarian activists (who are never held to the same standard as credible scientists). It’s much more difficult to dismiss prestigious scientists like Hansen than politicians or environmental activist, although there certainly is a concerted effort to do so.
Does anybody know if the debate between the Massey Energy CEO and Hansen ever occurred? I would have loved to hear Hansen take him to school on the reality of the environmental challenges we face.
Thank you Dr. Hansen. You are an inspiration.
Now what can the rest of us do to expedite change?
Dave,
It looks like Jim Hansen is offering to participate in a public discussion today, but not tomorrow night as Blankenship is proposing. From the AP this afternoon:
Massey Energy Calls Protest Pointless (1:05 p.m.)
Posted: June 24, 2009 01:06 PM
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Virginia-based coal producer Massey Energy’s chief executive is calling the latest arrests of protesters at one of the company’s operations pointless.
Don Blankenship said Wednesday the arrests of actress Daryl Hannah, NASA scientist James Hansen and 29 others a day earlier do nothing to further the debate about coal mining. Blankenship says he’d rather debate Hansen and has accepted an offer from West Virginia Media to air a debate Thursday.
Hansen, however, has offered to participate in a public discussion Wednesday, but not an adversarial debate.
Hansen, Hannah and others were cited for impeding traffic and obstructing an officer after they blocked a road near a Massey processing plant in southern West Virginia. Their complaints centered on mountaintop removal, which involves blasting away ridgetops.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
As Dorothy says, James Hansen is a hero to the world. His knowledge, inspiration and actions reach well beyond the borders of the United States.
Many thanks to James Hansen, Daryl Hannah, Michael Brune and the others that joined in this protest. At the slow rate of progress that both the American and Canadian governments are making on addressing climate change, protects like this look to possibly be the only way of effecting substantial action.
Dear Dr. Hansen,
Thank you for standing up for what is right. Thank you for making us all awareness is the most important bill on the agenda today. You actions have inspired me to send this out to my contacts, and write a letter to my congressmen. This was posted previously, but an excellent short video about mountaintop removal can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPixjCneseE.
spread the word,
-alec
Bravo to those who have the wisdom, the passion and the gumption to put themselves on the line in advancing a better world. We owe you a debt of gratitude! May your actions inspire many others.
Massey CEO Don Blankenship is a weazel. First he blusters about wanting to take Hansen out back and beat the debate out of him, then when Hansen takes him on, the coal “king” suddenly has to go out of town. He did offer to have Hansen stay three extra days so he could debate him on a conservative local TV station that he (Blankenship) is allegedly part owner in….one activist commented she thought the system was “rigged” — better not to have the debate at all, then. Sleazy Weazel!
Relative to Hansen, “Undaunted Courage” comes to mind.
Dr Hansen was speaking at an event last year, and fielded the question “what can I as individual do (to repsond to global warming)?”
Hansen: “do whatever you can do”
Some of what Dr Hansen has done can be read about in this book:
http://www.mark-bowen.com/book_cs.html
At another event last year, Hansen responded to a similar question (”we know this is real, but what should we do, how should we change behaviors?…”). His answer was unequivocal, the solution will require something altogether different than a focus on individual energy use and emissions:
1. individuals have to influence the democratic process;
2. individuals have to be much more politically active;
3. we simply have to change enough elected officials to get the job done.
Let your Rep know you expect him/her to work to strengthen ACES, to pass ACES, to strengthen US climate policy overall, to abolish the destruction of lives and livelihoods for fossil fuel profits for special interests, and to make this a top priority.
http://www.1sky.org/aces-house-action
In “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gore pointed out that all that’s missing is the political will. We can let fossil fuel special interests generate political (ill)will, or people–individuals–can follow Hansen’s advice and act as citizens to “influence the democratic process.” (And then remind friends and family, too.)
Applause for Dr. Hansen’s decision to move to civil disobedience.
I posted Joe Romm asking for issues related advice since I expect to be the first person to serve time for a civil disobedience protesting about global warming. He suggested I weigh in here.
I was arrested with 42 others on 4/20/09 at the protest in Charlotte, NC against the building of the Cliffside Coal plant.
I post now urging activists to at least consider Gandhian technique in civil disobedience. It is not for everyone, but Gandhi ALWAYS pleaded guilty, feeling jail time was a good spiritual experience.
American practitioners of nonviolent civil disobedience generally take a different tack. They plead not guilty, want their day in court, putting a greater priority on mainstream media publicity. Even those who commit felonies generally seek mercy from the court.
Gandhi never sought mercy.
While I’ve never met anyone who regularly practices civil disobedience who wasn’t an admirable person, I believe Gandhi goes further than just eschewing hatred. Gandhi actually was concerned with the spiritual experience of his adversaries.
Nearly all activists primarily are guilty of grandstanding, the act of increasing the distance between themselves and their adversaries by appealing solely to one’s supporters. Gandhi was different. He felt suffering was an important element in touching the hearts of one’s adversaries.
I have MANY friends who disagree with my position on global warming. I want their descendants to survive and live happy lives as much as anyone. We need to do more than win at policy making. We need to reach out and dialogue with our adversaries. People need to think twice before they buy a gasguzzler.
I expect to serve a short period for my CD in NC. The courts don’t like to fill their jails with non-fearsome people. I expect a refusal to pay court cost will be sufficient to generate a sentence.
I gave this talk in Dr King’s home town of Atlanta at the US Social Forum in June of 2007 entitled, “Nonviolent resistance in the US can be practiced with greater strength”
http://video.google.com/ videoplay?docid=-3388009813098407884
A transcript will be produced soon.
I’m eager to correspond with anyone on this matter. 443-682-8725
davidslesinger@yahoo.com
I am active on other matters where followers of this blog might disagree. I don’t require or expect you good people to necessarily engage me on those issues.