A Holiday Gift from Climate Scientist James Hansen

Posted by Dorothy Cutting
December 25, 2009

Indisputably, at least by standards set by the majority of climate scientists, writers and activists, the Climate Conference at Copenhagen was a failure. But the lessons to be learned are hugely important.

For one, we have all been forced to recognize that the collective corporate power of the coal and petroleum industries is far greater than we have have imagined. Whereas separate nations are suffering in vastly different ways from planetary warming and are using many sometimes conflicting methods for mitigating and adapting to it, these criminally exploitative industries have united globally to block effective action to prevent disastrous climate change. They have no more conscience than a room full of empty chairs.

Somehow, in order to survive, we have to change the way world economies are managed, as well as the way we consume resources as individuals.

As for what went so wrong at Copenhagen and why it happened, much has been written by knowledgeable people, encompassing a range of emotions from anger to dismay. But we at West Coast Climate Equity now take great hope. World knowledge of the way climate systems work and why global warming is so destructive to life on our planet has increased exponentially in just a few months. We believe that this will trigger in humanity the powerful survival instincts with which we are blessed and which have been suppressed by the corporate media and contrived distractions until now.

For new inspiration and knowledge, we would most like to recognise James Hansen, who with the publication of his book Storms of My Grandchildren, has made climate science accessible and interesting to everyone.

His book is so honest, well written and intriguing, that if it were about anything else but the possible destruction of life on earth, it would be entertaining. It is a saga, in part, of his efforts and frustrations over many years to shake political leaders awake to the danger we all face. He shows us how much more difficult it is to deal with individuals like Dick Cheney, who chaired the Presidential Climate Task Force in 2001, than it is with complex scientific data.

In regard to climate science, with all that I have studied since the summer of 2002, when I read Robert Hunter’s book 2020: Confronting Thermageddon in Our Lifetime and first became aware of dangerous climate change, I am now, thanks to James Hansen, learning and absorbing so much more. He has made understanding climate science easy for all of us with his good use of verbal and graphic images. He clearly show us how climate forcings, feedbacks and sensitivity work. He becomes our “docent on a short excursion through the remarkable world of climate change.”

There are some passages that literally jump off the page at us. In discussing climate forcings, he stuns us by writing, “Both global surface and greenhouse gas amount are now under human control (page 49),” and “… with humans on the planet, there will never be another ice age (page 229),” not words Climate denier/skeptics will much like reading.

My New Year’s message to all our readers is to follow James Hansen’s lead, and never stop hoping, believing and working to help our world and its people.

Thank you, Dr. Hansen, for giving us all the courage and will to continue. If you won’t give up, neither should we.

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Here is the link to Madeline Ostrander‘s  good interview with Dr. Hansen published by Yes Magazine, posted at CounterCurrents: Time For Better Ideas: James Hansen