Ex-NASA scientist hits back at 'Neanderthal' Conservatives
Source: CBC News
A U.S. activist derided by Canadian Energy Minister Joe Oliver this week over his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline says Canada's government is a "Neanderthal" on climate issues, in an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio's The House.
James Hansen, a former NASA scientist who has been a vocal opponent of Alberta's oilsands and the proposal for a pipeline to carry oilsands crude to the Texas Gulf coast, was reacting to Oliver's characterization of his arguments as "nonsense" during a visit to Washington this week.
"Well, the current government is a Neanderthal on this issue," Hansen told host Evan Solomon.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/04/26/pol-promo-house-hansen-oliver.html
Apr 26, 2013 6:31 PM ET
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)''Watch who you callin' a NeanderThal buddy!
K&R
- And a Mr. Cro Magnon has already chimed in and said: "Don't even think about going there!''
Initech
(99,915 posts)Neanderthals worked to advance the progress of humanity and made advancements in technology. Conservatives want to take us backwards.
bananas
(27,509 posts)Hansen describes himself as a moderate conservative and is registered to vote as an independent.
http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=6897
http://reason.com/blog/2013/04/02/climate-change-researcher-james-hansen-b
Pterodactyl
(1,687 posts)Sounds like a tea party nut to me.
daleo
(21,317 posts)Nice to know one exists.
He is in favour of a fee on carbon, rather like the Liberal Party of Canada was a few years ago. A carbon tax is a sensible idea, and one that can appeal to a broad spectrum of people (though fossil fuel executives tend to hate the idea for obvious reasons).
Sometimes people use the term "carbon tax" to refer to any method of putting a price on carbon.
However, in this context, it refers to a particular method of putting a price on carbon.
There were two proposed systems for reducing co2 emissions, called "cap and trade" and "tax and dividend".
Cap and trade had the most political support, and was the only one which had a chance of being enacted.
Hansen was outspoken against cap and trade, and in favor of tax and dividend.
The Liberal Party of Canada supported cap and trade, and was against tax and dividend.
Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party do not support a carbon tax and will not introduce one. Instead, We will quickly put in place a cap-and-trade system. Ideally, such a system would become global. It must be verifiable. It must be binding. And it must lead to absolute reductions in the amount of carbon pollution we spew into the atmosphere. (Michael Ignatieffs Speech on Liberal environment, climate change and clean energy jobs plan, Laval Quebec, November 29, 2009)
daleo
(21,317 posts)Was in favor of a carbon tax as part of his Green Shift plan, which was very sensible in my opinion.
CHIMO
(9,223 posts)Canada's natural resources minister, Joe Oliver, rarely bothers to hide his dislike for critics of the country's carbon-heavy tar sands or the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
But it still came as a surprise to hear Oliver lash out at one of America's pre-eminent scientists, climatologist James Hansen, during a visit to Washington DC.
Oliver was in Washington on one of the now-frequent visits by Canadian politicians to try to build support for the pipeline.
The charm offensive evidently did not apply to Hansen. In remarks made at a Washington thinktank, Oliver said Hansen should be "ashamed" of his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, and for warning that exploitation of the carbon-heavy tar sands would drive climate change past a point of no return.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/24/canada-joe-oliver-attack-james-hansen
These people believe, as a fundamental truth, that dinosaurs roamed the earth 2,000 years ago. They were here when everthing started!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockwell_Day
I would not get wound up about conserveing things like the earth and liberating the earth!
They want a pipeline because they need heavy oil. Some guys named K---- need it to replace South American heavy oil.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/empire/2013/04/201342882137322376.html