Comments Donald Hawkins has made

James Hansen

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/StateOfWild_20080428.p ...
  James Hansen just came outOn By caring for God's creatures, we avert a second flood posted 1 year, 7 months ago 20 Responses

james hansen

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/20080331_DarthVade ...
  On Responses to Bush's climate speech posted 1 year, 7 months ago 4 Responses

foreign policy

The Christian Science Monitor

Thursday 24 January 2008

Piles of coal, battling windmills, and political leaders descend on college campuses.
In Springfield, Mo., college students are about to see quite vividly how much energy they consume. Piles of coal will be on display in proportion to what's needed each day to power their dorms, computers, and dining halls.

At Radford University in Virginia, students may stumble upon a mock fight between a windmill and a smokestack (costumes courtesy of the campus Green Team).

At the University of Vermont in Burlington, audience members will be encouraged to bike or walk to a one-woman show in which the fictional first lady calls for a boycott against sex until the nation starts a serious dialogue about climate change.

The creative tactics are designed to draw students into a series of events this coming week known as Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America. Organizers bill the culminating day, Jan. 31, as the largest teach-in in the nation's history, drawing parallels to the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s and '70s. More than 1,500 institutions, most of them colleges and universities, will host classes, documentaries, performances, energy-saving competitions, and discussions with political leaders.

Eban Goodstein, the man behind the mission, speaks about it urgently: "What our kids have to do is truly heroic," he says. "If they're going to stabilize the climate for their children, they have to rewire the entire planet with clean-energy technology."

Rewire the entire planet foreign policy, yes you could certainly say that.  How about that.
On AGU releases position statement on climate change posted 1 year, 10 months ago 62 Responses

Now is the Time

These cold temperatures in Russia and snow in Baghdad etc.  What do you think.

  I sent that e-mail to one of the best people in the World on climate his answer.

Weather is NOT climate.  The natural variability between seasons at a site is typically larger than the global warming that has happened so far, so that while many more record highs than lows are being set, record lows do occasionally happen still.  The 1 degree or so of global warming is scientifically unequivocal but still not highly evident unless you're paying attention; the changes coming under business as usual are much bigger, and will be evident to everyone.

    On 'Green empire' like 'military intelligence' posted 1 year, 10 months ago 66 Responses

2040

Global warming speeds up Race for North Pole
London , 15 January 2008 - Global warming is accelerating the quest for the North Pole's vast energy resources, which are becoming accessible due to the disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, Jane's Defence Weekly reports. Claiming Arctic sovereignty is fast becoming a high-stakes - and potentially dangerous - game.
Unsurprisingly, the Arctic nations are locked in territorial disputes. Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the USA are all vying for access. Their claims may become even more contentious should energy reserves be proven to be recoverable in the vast, unforgiving environment.
A preliminary assessment by the US Geological Survey (USGS) suggests the Arctic seabed may hold as much as 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and natural gas reserves. Diminishing ice coverage will make extracting resources in the North Pole more feasible.
The Northwest Passage opened for the first time in human memory in 2007 and is poised to become a premium navigation route. As an alternative to the Panama Canal, it would cut roughly 7,000 km from the traditional shipping route between Asia and Europe, saving shippers fuel and time.
No country has clear legal authority to conduct maritime interdictions, ensure safe transit of commercial shippers or conduct routine surveillance of maritime traffic. This lack of clear jurisdiction has created a major security vacuum in the waterway.
"There is a risk that the Northwest Passage will become attractive to those who wish to traffic in weapons of mass destruction, missile components, centrifuges and other things of both national and global security concern," said Michael Byers, an Arctic expert at the University of British Columbia.
Sovereign rights to energy resources in the Arctic seabed are also still largely undetermined under international law. The UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides a legal framework to govern all uses of the world's oceans and resources, but the major players in the Arctic are still gathering evidence to bolster their own claims under the treaty. The US has not even ratified the UNCLOS.
Competition to claim parts of the Arctic seabed is likely to intensify as Arctic energy reserves become more accessible and the price for oil rises. The region could be ice-free in the month of September as early as 2040, according to a 2006 study sponsored by the US National Science Foundation and NASA.
Arctic powers are expanding their military and civilian footprints in the region. Canada, Russia and the US are investing in northern-capable research, surveillance and combat assets and boosting their Arctic operations tempo to include more military exercises, overflights and exploration missions using icebreakers. Forces operating in the Arctic region are exploring the full range of military capabilities, since there is no ban on weapons in the Arctic as there is in Antarctica.
Some experts say the build-up suggests that debates about Arctic sovereignty and security have reached a critical juncture: progress must be made on the diplomatic front or conflict may be unavoidable. The critical question is whether territorial disputes in the Arctic will descend from diplomatic annoyances to military brinkmanship or even armed conflict.
- Ends -

Yes that is just the way it was done. A little secret by 2040 to get the oil and gas from the North will probably not be on the table.
On Edwards puts the coal issue into the Dem debate posted 1 year, 10 months ago 20 Responses

TIME

                                                            TIME
                            by  Donald Hawkins
     George Monbiot said the other day, "The crisis we face demands a profound philosophical discussion, a reappraisal of who we are and what progress means."  Of course what he was referring to is climate change.  Kenneth Davidson said today, " The rapidly evolving science on this issue suggests that the scarcest resource humanity has is time."  Is climate change a crisis that demands a profound philosophical discussion, a reappraisal of who we are and what progress means?  Oh yes, it sure is and people we are in big trouble.  Time is short to slow this problem down so let's cut to the chase on this profound philosophical discussion.  Steven Hawking a rather smart man said on the History Channel a few months back.  "I am an optimistic man and if we use reason to overcome are instincts we should be alright."

     Arctic sea ice receded so much that the fabled Northwest Passage completely opened for the first time in human memory.NSIDC scientists monitor and study Arctic sea ice year round, analyzing satellite data and seeking to understand the regional changes and complex feedbacks that we are seeing. Serreze said, "The sea ice cover is in a downward spiral and may have passed the point of no return. As the years go by, we are losing more and more ice in summer, and growing back less and less ice in winter. We may well see an ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer within our lifetimes." The scientists agree that this could occur by 2030. Serreze concluded, "The implications for global climate, as well as Arctic animals and people, are disturbing." the National Snow and Ice Data Center

     Now if my memory servers me right didn't the Russians just sent a nuclear ice breaker to the North Atlantic and put the flag on the bottom of the ocean, fascinating.  The President of The United States from what I understand called Konrad Steffen this summer on a satellite phone.  Konrad does assessment of global sea level change and sensitivity studies of large ice sheets.  Why did the President call Konrad?  Because he is worried about climate change and needs the data to better make policy to fight this little problem?  Russians same thing to gather data to better understand climate change?  No, to know when they can go up there and get at all that oil, gas and gold.  Would you say that is reason or instinct?  Probably instinct but more importantly it's nut's.  The very thing that is causing the problem and will raise sea levels Worldwide and change the climate Worldwide they want to get more.  Do you see the beauty in that?

     When the ice melts enough and the oceans rise, heck let's be nice 3 feet and the East Coast and Gulf Coast big trouble and weather is getting more extreme Worldwide and yes we go to the North and start to drill for oil.  What are the people you know Joe public going to say?  Wait more importantly what is the government and the media going to say to keep the people calm.  Well probably the same thing they tell the people now nothing.  

     "So why, regardless of the character of its leaders, does the United States act this way? Because, like several other modern democracies, it is subject to two great corrupting forces. I have written before about the role of the corporate media (particularly in the US) in downplaying the threat of climate change and demonising anyone who tries to address it(10). I won't bore you with it again, except to remark that at 3pm eastern standard time on Saturday there were 20 news items on the front page of the Fox News website. The climate deal came 20th, after "Bikini-wearing stewardesses sell calendar for charity" and "Florida store sells `Santa Hates You' T-shirt"(11).  George Monbiot Dec 17, 2007

     That was my try at the profound philosophical discussion.  Let's move on to the  reappraisal of who we are and what progress means?  How long have people been mass marketed to and told that in order to be a real person you need to buy this and wear this and drive this and live in this and drink this or this and act this way talk this way walk this way.  You get the idea.  Time is short maybe ten years to turn this around so again let's cut to the chase.  Just the fact that the Earth is here is a miracle but to be just the right distance from the sun.  The moon just at the right place to make tides.  Life and how it formed very lucky.  Ok look how far we have come in just the last fifty years in some way's  in other ways no.  Progress moving forward somehow help people to understand they are a real.  It's Ok to be a human.  Somehow I think that may take a few years and time is short we have the technology right now to turn this problem around.  It will not be easy and tuff times are ahead but if we try with a little luck we can do this.  Come on people we need to help each other, suggestions. ideas are welcome.  That was my try at the number one problem facing the human race.On Shop till you drop? There's a better way posted 1 year, 11 months ago 10 Responses