Hansen: A Scientist with a Sense of Humor

Just about every time I read one of Jim Hansen's missives, I laugh out loud. Here he is telling the story of how one of his scientific papers has been rejected for publication:

The rejection was a bit like the one Snoopy received, which said, "Enclosed please find two rejection slips: one for the manuscript you submitted and one for the next one you write." Snoopy always takes it lying down on the top of his dog house (and I always wonder: how does he stay balanced on that narrow strip?)

The basic finding of his paper is hopeful. We stand of chance of solving climate if we avoid extracting liquid fuel from coal and other unconventional sources, and curb our current consumption of energy. If you want to read the paper, still seeking publication, he's posted it here. It's called "Implications of 'peak oil' for atmospheric CO2 and climate." Here's the nut of it from the abstract:

....we show that it is feasible to keep atmospheric CO2 from exceeding about 450 ppm by 2100, provided that emissions from coal and unconventional fossil fuels are constrained. Coal-fired power plants without sequestration must be phased out before mid-century to achieve this CO2 limit.

It is also important to "stretch" conventional oil reserves via energy conservation and efficiency, thus averting strong pressures to extract liquid fuels from coal or unconventional fossil fuels while clean technologies are being developed for the era "beyond fossil fuels".

We argue that a rising price on carbon emissions is needed to discourage conversion of the vast fossil resources into usable reserves, and to keep CO2 beneath the 450 ppm ceiling.

 

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