WashPost Publicizes 'Prominent Scientist' on Climate, Downplays His Lawsuit Against Obama

March 23rd, 2016 2:02 PM

The Washington Post knows how to downplay leftist environmental activism as merely the educated opinion of scientists. On A-3 in Wednesday’s paper came a story blandly headlined “Dire climate-change forecast from prominent scientists.” The online headline has a lot more attitude: “We had all better hope these scientists are wrong about the planet’s future.”

The “reporter” is also a thinly disguised leftist activist named Chris Mooney, author of the book The Republican War on Science. The most “prominent scientist” is James Hansen, who is not merely a scientist but a plaintiff in court to force the government to recognize his novel doctrine that the promotion of fossil fuels is a violation of our constitutional rights.

Mooney began by touting the “influential” scientist at the center of the drama:

An influential group of scientists led by James Hansen, the former NASA scientist often credited with having drawn the first major attention to climate change in 1988 congressional testimony, has published a dire climate study that suggests the impact of global warming will be quicker and more catastrophic than generally envisioned.

The research invokes collapsing ice sheets, violent megastorms and even the hurling of boulders by giant waves in its quest to suggest that even 2 degrees Celsius of global warming above pre-industrial levels would be far too much. Hansen has called it the most important work he has ever done.

Mooney doesn’t get to Hansen’s legal activism against Big Oil and their alleged enablers in the Obama administration until paragraph 14:

There is a great deal at stake. Hansen has cited the paper in court proceedings in a case playing out in Oregon, where a series of young plaintiffs, including his granddaughter Sophie, are suing the United States for violating their constitutional rights by allowing fossil fuel burning. While scientists will have to digest the new version of the paper, when the initial draft paper was released, at the website of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, it prompted both scientific praise and also major skepticism.

This lawsuit is co-filed by Hansen, the legal brief even arrogantly claims Dr. James Hansen is the guardian of  “FUTURE GENERATIONS.”

The left loves this lawsuit. Eric Holthaus at Slate.com suggested it was a real-life Disney movie: “At first glance, the circumstances surrounding this lawsuit read like a storyline straight out of a Disney movie: On one side, a group of energetic kids, joined by a wise and genial grandfather who is fond of fedoras. On the other side, the president of the United States. Will the kids save the world?”

The promotional blurbs for Hansen’s 2009 book Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth about the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity also stress his ideological Love Connections with people who aren't working for academic scientific journals:

“When the history of the climate crisis is written, Hansen will be seen as the scientist with the most powerful and consistent voice calling for intelligent action to preserve our planet's environment.” —Al Gore

“Dr. James Hansen is Paul Revere to the foreboding tyranny of climate chaos--a modern-day hero who has braved criticism and censure and put his career and fortune at stake to issue the call to arms against the apocalyptic forces of ignorance and greed.” —Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

“Hands down the best, most informative, brilliantly written book on general climate science I've ever read...” —DailyKos.com