User:Tillman/Hansen criticism
Criticism of Hansen's role as a climate activist
[edit]Andrew Freeman, an environmental journalist and columnist at the Washington Post, thinks the American Meteorological Society erred in giving Hansen its 2009 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal: "By citing his 'clear communication of climate science in the public arena,' they may have actually sanctioned his political advocacy. Such advocacy... threatens to paint the AMS as having a political agenda too." [1] Other AMS members have also criticized the award. [1]
Freeman Dyson has been strongly critical of Hansen's climate-change activism. "The person who is really responsible for this overestimate of global warming is Jim Hansen. He consistently exaggerates all the dangers... Hansen has turned his science into ideology.” [2] Dyson "doesn’t know what he’s talking about", Hansen responded. "He should first do his homework." [2]
After Hansen's arrest in West Virginia, New York Times columnist Andrew Revkin wrote: "Dr. Hansen has pushed far beyond the boundaries of the conventional role of scientists, particularly government scientists, in the environmental policy debate." [3]
New Yorker journalist Elizabeth Kolbert believes Hansen is "increasingly isolated among climate activists." [4] Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said that "I view Jim Hansen as heroic as a scientist... But I wish he would stick to what he really knows. Because I don't think he has a realistic idea of what is politically possible..." [4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Science Group Erred Giving Hansen Top Honor, by Andrew Freedman, Washington Post, January 29, 2009
- ^ a b "The Civil Heretic", NY Times profile by Nicholas Dawidoff, March 25, 2009
- ^ Copy from article
- ^ a b Elizabeth Kolbert, "The Catastrophist", profile of Hansen, The New Yorker, June 29, 2009, pp. 39-45.
Leave out?
[edit]In June 2008, Vic Svec, a senior vice president of Peabody Energy, responded to Hansen's statement to Congress that coal and oil executives should be tried for “crimes against humanity and nature”: "If he would imprison those who don’t march in lockstep with his views, the jails would be very, very big." [1]
- ^ "Big Coal Fires Back Over James Hansen’s Criminal Complaint" New York Times, June 25, 2008