Das politische Scheitern der Klimaforscher III
>>Protest and direct action could be the only way to tackle soaring carbon emissions, a leading climate scientist has said.
James Hansen, a climate modeller with Nasa, told the Guardian today that corporate lobbying has undermined democratic attempts to curb carbon pollution. „The democratic process doesn’t quite seem to be working,“ he said.
Speaking on the eve of joining a protest against the headquarters of power firm E.ON in Coventry, Hansen said: „The first action that people should take is to use the democratic process. What is frustrating people, me included, is that democratic action affects elections but what we get then from political leaders is greenwash.
„The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes. So, I’m not surprised that people are getting frustrated.
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Officials will gather in Bonn later this month to continue talks on a new global climate treaty, which campaigners have called to be signed at a UN meeting in Copenhagen in December. Hansen warned that the new treaty is „guaranteed to fail“ to bring down emissions.
Hansen said: „What’s being talked about for Copenhagen is a strenghening of Kyoto [protocol] approach, a cap and trade with offsets and escape hatches which will be gauranteed to fail in terms of getting the required rapid reduction in emissions. They talk about goals which sound impressive, but when you see the actions are such that it will be impossible to reach those goals, then I can understand the informed public getting frustrated.“
He said he was growing „concerned“ over the stance taken by the new US adminstration on global warming. „It’s not clear what their intentions are yet, but if they are going to support cap and trade then unfortunately i think that will be another case of greenwash…<<
Das Klimawandelskeptiker-Blog Watts Up With That forderte daraufhin die Entlassung Hansens durch die NASA wegen seiner angeblichen Infragestellung des „demokratischen Prozesses“. Dabei forderte Hansen im selben Interview die Bürger auf, eben diesen demokratischen Prozess zu nutzen und gegen Kohlekraftwerke zu demonstrieren.
Hansens „Fehler“ liegt darin, den „demokratischen Prozess“ auf die freie und gleiche Wahl zu reduzieren und korporativen Lobbyismus als etwas der bürgerlichen Demokratie äußerliches zu berachten. Das eine wird es jedoch nicht ohne das andere geben. Denkbar auch, dass Hansen sich nicht beschweren würde, wären die in seinem Sinne agierenden Lobbyisten durchsetzungsfähiger.
„Watts Up With That“ macht in dieser Beziehung keinen „Fehler“. Anthony Watts nutzt jeden Hebel, den er zu greifen bekommt, um Klimaforscher wie Hansen zu denunzieren – das brachte ihm einem Preis für das beste „science blog“ im letzten Jahr ein.
