For a modest man, Dr. James Hansen, the Cassandra of global warming, has become quiet fiery.
To wit (from his most recent letter to Angela Merkel, prime minister of Germany, on why she must not allow coal plant construction):
…we
must have a prompt moratorium on the construction of coal-fired power
plants that do not capture CO2, and we must phase-out existing coal-fired
power plants over the next two decades. It is foolish to build new
plants with the knowledge that they will have to be bull-dozed in the
near future.
Given the fossil fuel facts summarized in the letter, the alternative to
elimination of CO2 emissions from coal use would be to place a
contraption on the back of each of our automobiles to capture the
CO2. Remember that the mass of the CO2 is more than three times
larger than the mass of the fuel in the tank. Can you imagine the
price of this contraption? And where are you going to take and stow
the CO2 after you capture it?
One of my next posts will be a paper that I hope makes the story
clearer. We are now on the hairy edge. We are, in fact, going
somewhat beyond the safe level of atmospheric CO2, but there is enough
potential for storage of CO2 in soils and the biosphere that we can take
care of the excess via improved agricultural and forestry practices,
improvements that make sense for other reasons – provided that we phase
out coal use except where CO2 is captured and sequestered.
Old geezers living on high ground may not be concerned about ice sheet
stability and future sea level rise, or the out-of-control mess that we
threaten to leave for coming generations. However, when one looks
at species loss and its relation to climate change, simple calculation
shows that each new coal-fired power plant will be a dagger in the heart
of at least several irreplaceable species, even though we cannot identify
specific species with a specific power plant.
Kit Stolz 