Hansen at Gore

How ironic! I wonder if Dr James Hansen thought about the synchronicity between the name of the town he spoke at this afternoon and Big Al, spokesperson for climate change, the topic of his talk. I guess he will have - he's certainly bright enough. Dr Hansen is a scientist. His delivery was balanced and methodical. He's not prone to using hyperbole.
Around 500 people turned out for the lecture - a sizable number for sure for a scientific talk in a town famous for its conservative farming population. The Dunedin talk on Wednesday night had attracted 1000 young people, according to those who turned up to hear him again, quite astonishing in my opinion and the excellent turn-out at Gore showed the level of interest in the broad issue of climate change and the specific instance of the Solid Energy project at Mataura.
Hansen talked science then opened the floor to questions. There were many and most were about the details of the science: methane production, ice ages, N2o, technical details and challenges. The climate change denier crew were strangely silent. Perhaps their concerns were allayed by Dr Hansen's careful presentation. I doubt that. Maybe they felt the crowd would not be with them. I think they were correct if that was their reasoning. Jeanette Fitzsimons spoke, thanking everyone involved. She seemed well pleased by the meeting and the progress of the 'lignite tour' to date. 
Hansen said, in essence, that climate change is indisputable and deeply worrying. He called upon us to recognise the responsibility we have to coming generations and described ways in which we might challenge the 'vested interests' that seek the status quo, re. extracting and burning fossil fuels. He encouraged us to speak out and explore legal challenges to proposals to release more carbon gases into the atmosphere.
There were representatives from all the local media at the meeting and tomorrow's rags should carry comment about the event.
I'll link to those as they appear.
It was a very valuable afternoon, especially in the way it revealed who was and wasn't there to hear the sermon from the good doctor.