“Carbon tax with 100 percent dividend”- Hansen

A “carbon tax with 100 percent dividend” is required for reversing the growth of atmospheric CO2. The tax, applied to oil, gas and coal at the mine or port of entry, is the fairest and most effective way to reduce emissions and transition to the post fossil fuel era.

-- from Tell Barack Obama the Truth – The Whole Truth by James Hansen.

He says "Criticisms are welcomed."

24 Nov: Andy Revkin quizzes Joe Romm's response

Oil be damned

Put the oil chiefs on trial says Hansen.

Meanwhile, Obama 'in bed' with ethanol crowd.

Hopeful Hansen

...The tendency of the media to continually report bad news on climate change and the human-made factors that drive climate change sometimes paints a picture that is bleaker than that shown by careful analysis. Such information is often misleading about the true status of the Earth, and the impression created may be harmful if it leads to despair about the prospects for achieving a relatively stable climate with a cleaner atmosphere and ocean...

...There is tremendous potential for reducing atmospheric CO2 via reduction of deforestation, improved forestry practices, and improved agricultural practices that increase carbon storage in the soil. If governments were to encourage such practices, rather than the converse, and if coal use were phased out except where the CO2 is captured, it would be possible to literally roll back the net human-made climate forcing to levels below those defining critical tipping points...

-- says James Hansen in a letter to Gordon Brown.

Rhetoric and climate change

In exchange of letters between Kraig Naasz of the U.S. National Mining Assocation and James Hansen, Naasz objects to Hansen comparing coal cars to those carrying Europeans (sic) to crematoria in World War Two.

Naasz is trying a "have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife?" attack, implying anti-Semitism on Hansen's part by attributing to him a comparison that he did not make (which would, supposedly, trivialise the Final Solution) in order to draw attention away from the actual issue under discussion.

A correction

The deceit behind the attempts to discredit evidence of climate change reveals matters of importance. This deceit has a clear purpose: to confuse the public about the status of knowledge of global climate change, thus delaying effective action to mitigate climate change. The danger is that delay will cause tipping points to be passed, such that large climate impacts become inevitable, including the loss of all Arctic sea ice, destabilization of the West Antarctic ice sheet with disastrous sea level rise later this century, and extermination of a large fraction of animal and plant species...Make no doubt, however, if tipping points are passed, if we, in effect, destroy Creation, passing on to our children, grandchildren, and the unborn a situation out of their control, the contrarians who work to deny and confuse will not be the principal culprits.

-- from James Hansen The Real Deal: Usufruct and the Gorilla

U.S. climate policy basics

James Hansen has framed a Declaration of stewardship for U.S. political candidates. It calls for a moratorium on 'dirty coal', a 'fair' and gradually rising price on carbon emissions, and incentives for energy efficiency and conservation.