User:Tillman/Hansen consensus

Notability and consensus
In re: Hansen's coal-train/crematoria statement. (I can't believe I'm doing this again.)

Since this is once again turning into a revert-war, and full consensus seems unlikely, I offer the following observations, that I hope everyone involved can agree to, as a step towards resolving the controversy:

Stipulation 1: Hansen really did make this statement, he has stood by it (with minor caveats), and the statement, context and background are amply documented in the public record, in the page history here, and in the proposed article addition (see for article context).


 * When testifying against the construction of new coal-fired power plants lacking CCS technology, he stated "If we cannot stop the building of more coal-fired power plants, those coal trains will be death trains – no less gruesome than if they were boxcars headed to crematoria, loaded with uncountable irreplaceable species."

(Sidelight: the Des Moines Register link has expired. When you search on the article title ""More from NASA's Hansen on coal", the site asks, Did you mean "More from Nazi's Hansen on coal"? )

Stipulation 2. WP:GNG states "If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed (emphasis added) to be notable." Hansen's statement was published in the Des Moines Register (where he testified; link expired), commented on twice in the New York Times, and widely discussed on the net and in print.

Stipulation 3. WP:BLP states "If an allegation or incident is notable, relevant, and well-documented by reliable published sources, it belongs in the article — even if it's negative and the subject dislikes all mention of it."

My conclusion: Hansen's statement is true, well-documented, meets WP notability and WP:BLP guidelines, and is relevant to Dr. Hansen's views on coal use and climate change.

Trials for fossil fuel chiefs
In 2008 interviews with ABC News, the Guardian newspaper and in a separate op-ed , Dr Hansen has suggested putting energy company executives, including the CEOs of ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal on trial for "high crimes against humanity and nature". Hansen accuses them and other fossil-fuel companies of actively spreading doubt about global warming, in the same way that tobacco companies tried to hide the link between smoking and cancer. He also blamed lobbyists for inaction on climate change, stating: "It's the fact that money talks in Washington, and that democracy is not working the way it's intended to work."