Hansen retires: for full time advocacy

bwilson4web · Apr 3, 2013

. . .
Hansen's retirement concludes a 46-year career atNASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, but he plans to use his time to take up legal challenges to the federal and state governments over limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

In recent years, Hansen, 72, has become an activist for climate change, which didn't sit well with NASA headquarters in Washington. "As a government employee, you can't testify against the government," Hansen told The New York Times.
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Source: NASA climate scientist James Hansen retires to join global warming fight full time - CSMonitor.com

With sequestration, NASA has stopped conference attendance. So it makes sense for James to continue the work by speaking out in public, attending conferences. More importantly, he is free from civil servant restrictions on political activities.

I wonder if he might run for Pat Toomey's seat?

Bob Wilson

austingreen · Apr 3, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/science/james-e-hansen-retiring-from-nasa-to-fight-global-warming.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Dr. Hansen had already become an activist in recent years, taking vacation time from NASA to appear at climate protests and allowing himself to be arrested or cited a half-dozen times.
But those activities, going well beyond the usual role of government scientists, had raised eyebrows at NASA headquarters in Washington. “It was becoming clear that there were people in NASA who would be much happier if the ‘sideshow’ would exit,” Dr. Hansen said in an e-mail.
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I am happy that he is going to be doing the activism on his own, instead of getting arested multiple times as the head of a great institution.

But Dr. Hansen is a maverick, just as likely to vex his allies in the environmental movement. He supports nuclear power and has taken stands that sometimes undercut their political strategy in Washington.
In the interview and in subsequent e-mails, Dr. Hansen made it clear that his new independence would allow him to take steps he could not have taken as a government employee. He plans to lobby European leaders — who are among the most concerned about climate change — to impose a tax on oil derived from tar sands. Its extraction results in greater greenhouse emissions than conventional oil.
Dr. Hansen’s activism of recent years dismayed some of his scientific colleagues, who felt that it backfired by allowing climate skeptics to question his objectivity. But others expressed admiration for his willingness to risk his career for his convictions.
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Hansen retires: for full time advocacy

bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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Hansen retires: for full time advocacy

bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

austingreen Senior Member