James Hansen: “Keystone Will Probably Not Be Approved.”
April 29, 2013
In perhaps his first major interview since leaving NASA, James Hansen demonstrated quiet passion, and a clear style that has not always been a hallmark of scientific communication on climate change.
Question for the fossil fuel industry: Is that a Neanderthal in your pocket?
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
April 29, 2013 at 4:20 pm
Until residential wind and solar is affordable enough to destabilize the fossil fuel industry by local consumers removing themselves from the grid, we are going to just keep arguing.
It’s a race between that, and the point of no return at which the feedbacks take the warming out of our hands and we are just along for the ride.
April 29, 2013 at 6:48 pm
That do you mean affordable? Did you know oil is the most subsidised energy form. And add to that the fact that oil dont pay for the damage they create, climate and healt. 2 million a year dies from oil pollution.
April 29, 2013 at 7:23 pm
I know, i just mean that the cost comes down enough (regardless of how) that the average person can easily afford it.
April 30, 2013 at 4:54 am
Yes or the fossil fuel cost what it should cost
April 30, 2013 at 9:21 pm
Or we upgrade to a different model that doesn’t rely on individuals shouldering the up front cost. Different, like all other public utility models I can think of.
April 30, 2013 at 9:54 pm
I would prefer a feed-in tariff like in Germany and Denmark. Allow anyone and everyone the opportunity to sell renewable energy to the grid. This way, a solar panel or a wind turbine isn’t just saving you money on your electricity bill, it becomes a source of revenue. By doing that, you allow thousands (if not millions) of people to make money off of energy consumption – not just a few.
April 29, 2013 at 4:25 pm
“Neanderthal” sounds old-fashioned and very un-PC
April 29, 2013 at 4:57 pm
but accurate
April 29, 2013 at 7:53 pm
From some of the latest anthropology research in the last few year shows Neanderthals were absorbed into our human population that left Africa; therefore, we are a living Neanderthals to some degree.
Hansen should have chosen an older hominid like Australopithecus Fossilfuelnsis
sorry it is the Neanderthals in me:-)
April 29, 2013 at 4:36 pm
THe carbon tax is the way out. We can’t wait for the market solution to happen at a snail’s pace.
April 29, 2013 at 5:09 pm
I agree but good luck getting that to pass while the fossil fuel industry still has trillions of dollars to lobby it down.
April 29, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Tax at the source and Dividend to the public…
April 29, 2013 at 6:52 pm
Why not tax as in sweden. You have problem with you budget anyway
April 29, 2013 at 9:38 pm
Great idea and I agree. But the hurdle we face is that all the Fox News/Rush Limbaugh Neanderthals are sure to declare “fee-and-dividend” to be nothing but socialism….
April 30, 2013 at 9:25 pm
Which is why we need to start using their playbook, and start arguing for socialism shamefacedly. Or call it what it really is – a public utility.
Better yet, start arguing for nationalization of the oil companies. It’s called moving the Overton window, and the Republicans keep proving it to us that it works.
So, enough of the “we can’t do anything because Exxon Mobil has a lot of money” stuff – start arguing passionately and public opinion will change.
Which is why I keep talking about the same old shit here over and over and….
April 29, 2013 at 7:11 pm
Would have liked to have seen him quantify his counterarguments more, against the numbers the other guy threw up. Something like, ‘Human activity has already put 570 billion tons of C in the atmosphere. If you burn all the tar sands, that adds another 240 billion tons of C (though to be fair only enough oil for 22 billion tons of C are presently on the oil company’s hit list), and adds half a degree of warming to the energy imbalance. Plus adding extra oil to our system just stimulates our appetite for more oil…’
April 29, 2013 at 7:37 pm
I agree. Also, Dr. Hansen missed an opportunity when the interviewer mentioned that emissions from the Tar Sands is on one one-thousanth of global emissions. The emissions from extraction are only part of the problem. The BIG issue is the emissions from burning all the oil in the tar sands. Whether that happens “here or there”, it still ends up in the atmosphere.
April 29, 2013 at 10:01 pm
Truthout has a front-line report from Texas on the one remaining holdout on the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline:
http://tinyurl.com/c3qslun
April 30, 2013 at 10:27 am
Is it just me, or is the sound on that video really messed up? It is all on the left channel, and very “uneven”.