[Vision2020] NASA Climate Scientist James Hansen: Put Fossil Fuel Industry Executives on Trial for High Crimes Against Humanity and Nature

[Ted Moffett]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/23/fossilfuels.climatechange

Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking
speech<http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Environment/documents/2008/06/23/ClimateChangeHearing1988.pdf>(pdf)
to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the
alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need
to be taken immediately if the "perfect storm" of irreversible climate
change is not to become inevitable.

Speaking before Congress again, he will accuse the chief executive officers
of companies such as
ExxonMobil<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/28/climatechange.fossilfuels>and
Peabody Energy of being fully aware of the disinformation about
climate
change they are spreading.

In an interview with the
Guardian<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/23/climatechange.carbonemissions>he
said: "When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the
primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via
organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think
that's a crime."

----------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen
Trials for fossil fuel chiefs

In 2008 interviews with *ABC News <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_News>*,
*The Guardian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian>*, and in a
separate op-ed, Hansen has called for putting fossil
fuel<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel>company executives,
including the CEOs of
ExxonMobil <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExxonMobil> and Peabody
Coal<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peabody_Coal>,
on trial for "high crimes <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_crimes> against
humanity and nature", on the grounds that these and other fossil-fuel
companies had actively spread doubt and misinformation about global
warming<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming>,
in the same way that tobacco
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco>companies tried to hide the link
between smoking and cancer.
[80] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen#cite_note-abc20ylater-79>[81
] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen#cite_note-guardtrial-80>[82]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen#cite_note-ww20ylater-81>
Arrest during protest in West Virginia

On June 23, 2009, James Hansen, along with 30 other
protesters<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protester>including actress
Daryl
Hannah <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Hannah>, were arrested on
misdemeanor <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misdemeanor> charges of
obstructing police and impeding traffic, during a protest against mountaintop
removal mining <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining>
in Raleigh
County, West Virginia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_County,_West_Virginia>
.[83] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen#cite_note-82> The
protesters intended to enter the property of Massey Energy
Company<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Energy_Company>,
but were blocked by a crowd of several hundred coal miners and supporters.[
84] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen#cite_note-83> Hansen said
that mountaintop removal for coal mining "[provides] only a small fraction
of our energy" and "should be
abolished."[85]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen#cite_note-NYT.E-84>Hansen
called on President Barack
Obama <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama> to abolish mountaintop
coal mining.[86] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen#cite_note-85>

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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