Hysterical Hansen Hype: Obama 'Has Four Years to Save Earth'

James Hansen, head of NASA's the Goddard Institute of Space Studies is still bloviating about the catastrophes that await us because of what yours truly and others refer to as globaloney (the belief that the earth is dangerously warming, that human activity is the cause of the warming, and that radical steps that would cause huge reductions in standards of living around the world are required to save the planet from extinction). Reporter Robin McKie carries Hansen's latest "we'd better act or else" warning at the UK Guardian.

Here are the first five paragraphs of McKie's article, if you can bear reading them (bolds after title are mine):

President 'has four years to save Earth'
US must take the lead to avert eco-disaster

Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark assessment of Nasa scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the devastating climate change that now threatens Earth. Crucially, that action will have to be taken within Obama's first administration, he added. [snip]

Space and time don't allow me to correct every error or to debunk every shoddy argument being made, but here are three egregious busts:

• The US is not the world's greatest carbon emitter. China became the biggest 18 months ago. This was noted in an article carried in .... the UK Guardian. A June 2008 article in the New York Times reported that China had increased its lead.
• Sea ice is back to 1979 levels.
• The alleged White House campaign to "silence" Hansen is an urban legend (scroll down a bit at link).

Of course, by posting on this I am giving Hansen's hysterics wider play. But I figure that commenters can offset the negative impact of the increased exposure with additional debunking of their own. So have at it.

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