Dave Jesse (campaigner in video): ‘It’s going to be a good campaign in terms of … delaying them [UK Coal] long enough … to make the point about coal and climate change.’ (Video time ref: 00.28 to 00.47)

James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, also discussed CO2′s part in this discussion in his largely unreported evidence to the trial of 20 eco-activists at the Ratcliffe coal power station just before Christmas last year.

Point 4: ‘Coal was almost the only source of fossil fuel CO2 emissions until about 1920. CO2 emissions from oil accelerated rapidly after WW II, passing coal emissions in the early 1960s.’

‘Coal use accelerated in the past several years, and by 2009 global CO2 emissions from coal (43%) had shot past those of oil (38%), with gas at 19%.’

‘Given evidence that the world is approaching peak oil production, and the fact that recoverable resources of coal are much larger than those for oil, coal will surely become the dominant source of future atmospheric CO2, unless a conscious decision is made to limit emissions from coal.’

Point 5: ‘It will be necessary to return atmospheric CO2 to 350 ppm or lower on a time scale of decades, not centuries, if we hope to avoid destabilization of the ice sheets, minimize species extinctions, and halt and reverse the many regional climate trends discussed above.’

‘There is just barely still time to accomplish that, but it requires an immediate moratorium on new coal-fired power plants that do not capture and sequester CO2 and as rapid as possible phase out of existing coal plants.’

Point 7: ‘(2) Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2008 were 40% higher than those in 1990.’

‘Over the past 30 years temperatures have increased at a rate of almost 0.2C per decade, in very good agreement with predictions based on greenhouse gas increases.’

‘Even over the past ten years, despite a decrease in solar forcing, the trend continues to be one of warming. Natural, short- term fluctuations are occurring as usual but there have been no significant changes in the underlying warming trend.’

(5) ‘The UK is one of the nations most responsible for human-made CO2 in the air today, indeed, on a per capita basis it is the most responsible of all nations that are major emitters of CO2.’

‘This fact is recognized by developing countries, making it implausible that they would consider altering their plans for coal use if the UK plans to continue to rely on coal-fired power.’

[Source: 'James Hansen's evidence to the Ratcliffe coal trial', Guardian, 14th December 2010]

By the way if -as you (fake James Hansen) say- ‘Mother Nature aint playing ball with any of the Climatologists models’, how come 2010 was tied with 2005 as the hottest year ever recorded?

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