{"id":824,"date":"2011-07-04T01:01:03","date_gmt":"2011-07-03T19:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/?p=824"},"modified":"2011-07-04T01:01:03","modified_gmt":"2011-07-03T19:01:03","slug":"on-james-hansens-storms-of-my-grandchildren-the-folly-of-creepers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/07\/04\/on-james-hansens-storms-of-my-grandchildren-the-folly-of-creepers\/","title":{"rendered":"On James Hansen's "Storms of My Grandchildren" & The Folly of Creepers"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I just saw that the temperature reached 118 degrees in Phoenix yesterday (How can they stand it?) and is forecast to be at record levels all across the country, including where I am, in the Southwest, which by some measurements has already warmed by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the last century. James Hansen is a famous climate change scientist and NASA chief, and his book Storms of My Grandchildren<\/em> (2009) is about the crucial misinformation going on in politics, and especially the Bush administration, when scientists were regularly being censored by political hacks who didn’t like the truth about global warming and climate change. And although I’m an Obama supporter, I also agree with Hansen that Obama isn’t doing enough to steer us away from this catastrophe on our doorsteps. It’s good book, if a bit chatty and clumsy at times.
\nAnd it’s the kind of book members of Congress should be reading. But they’re not. Instead it seems even the Democrats, like Weiner, are wasting their time emailing photos of themselves to sweet young things. College students have recently taught me a new term: Creepers<\/em>. It’s a term for people (pervs, most likely) who troll Facebook\/Twitter etc. for girls and virtual sex. (Or for boys.) What strikes me about our politicians is that they seem to spend their time fundraising or ego-stroking when they need to be reading. But maybe I’m just old fashioned, and believe politicians should be reasonable, curious, intelligent human beings. What an idea.
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So I just saw that the temperature reached 118 degrees in Phoenix yesterday (How can they stand it?) and is forecast to be at record levels all across the country, including where I am, in the Southwest, which by some … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-climate-change","category-the-west"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t