Hansen and Nuclear Power

I expect you have heard of Jim Hansen. Until recently he was head of the NASA Goddard Research Institute. It is fair to say he is the leading proponent of of the concept of AGW (Anthropological Global Warming).

Here is a blindingly brief resume of Jim Hansen the scientist (abbreviated from HERE)

Education
BA with highest distinction (Physics and Mathematics), University of Iowa, 1963
MS (Astronomy), University of Iowa, 1965
Visiting student, Inst. of Astrophysics, University of Kyoto & Dept. of Astronomy, Tokyo University, Japan, 1965-1966
Ph.D. (Physics), University of Iowa, 1967

Primary leading roles
Director: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Adjunct Professor: Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University
Manager: GISS Planetary and Climate Programs

Then there are over thirty awards (yes - over thirty!). The particular award which emphasises the track of this post is a 2008 award - Rachel Carson Award for Integrity in Science.

Whether you agree with AGW or not you have to admit Hansen is a highly gifted scientist. I hope you agree that whether you like his scientific stance or not he is undoubtedly someone whose opinions and scientific theories should be thoroughly listened to.

The likes of Green Peace and FOE love Hansen's pro AGW stance because it unintentionally plays perfectly to their luddite anti-technological bigotry.

But things get very tricky when it comes to Hansens forceful support for Nuclear Power. We then see the bizarre and laughable descent into the usual spiteful character assassination and pseudo science that so infects the likes of Green Peace and FOE.

Here's a few quotes from recent Hansen interview (fully in context)
[quote]
it is very unfortunate that a number of nations have indicated that they’re going to phase out nuclear power… The truth is, what we should do is use the more advanced nuclear power. Even the old nuclear power is much safer than the alternatives.
[unquote]

[quote]
The bottom line seems to be that it is not feasible in the foreseeable future to phase out coal unless nuclear power is included in the energy mix.
[unquote]

[quote]
"I think that next-generation, safe nuclear power is an option which we need to develop. 
[unquote]

But for our nuclear denier's there is worse to come.

Hansen being a bright bloke, thought he would calculate just how many people have been SAVED by nuclear power. Read about it (Scientific American - HERE) and (Daily Kos - HERE).

Here's a graph from the paper:

Here's a small section from the paper's abstract:

[quote]
Using historical production data, we calculate that global nuclear power has prevented about 1.84 million air pollution-related deaths and 64 gigatonnes (Gt) CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would have resulted from fossil fuel burning.
[unquote]


Oh BOY - Did that cause the Green luddites to throw their toys out of the pram. See this pathetic diatribe (GreenLeft - HERE)

To the Green luddites Hansen is now a bit of a Janus. On one hand he is a champion of the planet, a hero and an environmental leader. But on the other hand he is a charlatan and incompetent who falsely promotes the demon of nuclear Power. He has even been called a shill (really!)

You have to laugh. Not one of these buffoons shooting at Hansen can hold a candle to his scientific rigour. I would really REALLY be interested (and probably amused) to see them try and disprove his findings using science rather than innuendo and character assasination.

But I won't be holding my breath while I wait.

The Camel Assasins

When I first read This Post on "Watts Up With That"  I thought that the author must be on drugs. But as I read on it became all too painfully obvious that this was far from some drug induced hallucination.

It was for real.

Basically, in order to save the planet from Global Warming, the Australian Government plan to gun down one million feral camels. Simply to stop them farting.

You're next sunshine

If this scheme was ever extended to the human race then Billothewisp would have his life expectancy seriously curtailed.

The camels will be humanely shot (Oh - that's alright then), and the amount of CO2 released from the decomposing carcass and the fuel used by the hunting party carefully itemised against that saved by the prevention of camel fart-gas. The resulting "Carbon Credits" can then be traded

No. Seriously. I am not on drugs either. Honestly. Read the Australian Governement paper Here.

Now putting stupidity and drug induced psychosis to one side, on the balance of things, I generally think a mild amount of AGW is taking place. Consequently I often try to present what I consider rational aspects of reducing pollution, like this post on stopping the Indonesian Peat Fires  - due for an update soon.

But unfortunately, any rational argument for stopping bad things like deforestation, and slash and burn farming get thrown out the window when the lunatics and doom-wishers start down the End-Of-The-World-Is-Nigh path and present ever more extreme and absurd scanarios and solutions for global warming.

But I never thought that sections of the Australian government were also in need of Psychiatric care.

I may be disparaged by the true believers in the global warming camp as a mere Luke Warmer, but believe me, lunatic ideas like this will soon reduce that temperature to tepid.

The Problem with True Believers

Today, although it will make no difference to the true believers, "Watts Up With That" have published another rather damning piece on IPCC data.

Anthony Watts is a skeptic, not a denier. There is a very important difference. I wont bother expounding on the difference here. Most non lunatics will know what it is.

Humanity has always had a taste for Catastrophe. There have always been those hyped up on imminent end-of-the-world hysteria. You can try to rationalise with the true believers, but you usually end up being regarded as "the enemy" or as a denier or heretic.

Take a look back through history. You will not be able to count all the victims. There are simply too many.

Lets hope the climate change devotees do not decide that "for the good of humanity" a few car bombs or assasinations will help the cause. I bet some are dreaming about it already.

Far fetched? Just look at the lunatics in Animal Rights, Baader-Meinhoff, Angry Brigade, Shining Path, IRA, UDA etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum, ad infinitum. All with an unshakeable certainty to their moral crusade. All keen to add a little power and meaning to their wretched little lives.

The problem with the true believers is that to them, the science is not only "settled" it is now also unimportant. The important part to the true believers is that the IPCC have justified them doing just about anything to "Save the Planet". Once justified, nothing else then matters.

The lunatics can now freely indulge in a fashionable orgy of bigotry. Even if the CRU came up and publicly changed their minds, it would be too late to stop them now.

You know the chant. "The science is settled". The science is NEVER settled. That is any science not just Climate science. But do not try telling that to the average zealot.

Personally, I suspect that the CRU climatologists have found some data that shows the earth is warming up. One possibility of this, is due to man made CO2. But in order to get attention and the associated finance, they overstated their case. Spiced it up a little, pandered to the nutters.

Now they have the nutters on board and it is going to be very difficult to progress their argument in a scientific manner.

This is all a big shame.

Now that power has been ceded to the lunatics, Climate Science will be damaged for years. Global warming or not, we are all losers