Hansen Doesn't Quite Seem To Be Getting It

The democratic process is working just fine:

James Hansen, a climate modeller with Nasa, told the Guardian today that corporate lobbying has undermined democratic attempts to curb carbon pollution. "The democratic process doesn't quite seem to be working," he said.

Speaking on the eve of joining a protest against the headquarters of power firm E.ON in Coventry, Hansen said: "The first action that people should take is to use the democratic process. What is frustrating people, me included, is that democratic action affects elections but what we get then from political leaders is greenwash.

"The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes. So, I'm not surprised that people are getting frustrated. I think that peaceful demonstration is not out of order, because we're running out of time."

Democracy has always been OK with the idea of live today and let tomorrow take care of itself. That's why I'm so fatalistic about the idea of getting a handle on global warming. In a world where people care about their friends and families first, caring about eventual world calamity is just too abstract. The political system - democracy, dictatorship, whatever - doesn't matter.

I'll be dead long before it all becomes a serious headache.