The closest thing climate science has to a super-star scientist (vice president ‘Ali G’ doesn’t count) has turned up at a court in the UK to defend six activists who damaged a power station.

James Hanson, who heads up NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, is backing the Greenpeace protesters, who claim that climate change is a excuse for the damage they caused to a chimney during a protest (see Climate fights trump property rights, claims Greenpeace). According to the Guardian, Hanson said he agreed with Gore’s line that more people should chain themselves to coal power stations to stop carbon dioxide emissions.

“The US, UK and Germany are responsible on a per capita basis for most of the world’s emissions and someone needs to step forward, draw a line in the sand and say: ‘No more coal fired power stations’,” Hanson told the court (Sky News).

He added, “Somebody needs to stand up and take a leadership role. … If we are to avoid disintegration of the ice sheets, minimise species extinction and halt or reverse … climate change there is just time to accomplish it, but it requires an immediate moratorium on new coal-fired power plants that do not capture or sequester CO2.” (Independent.)

Hanson is famous for his 1980s testimony to the US government on global warming, his staunch opposition to both the Clinton and Bush administration stances on climate issues, and – if you’re the BBC – being Al Gore’s advisor.

Image: NASA