HANSEN RENEWS PLEA FOR ACTION

Abstract

TWENTY YEARS AGO, James Hansen brought his concern about global warming to the U.S. Senate, testifying that Earth had entered a long-term warming trend and man-made greenhouse gases were almost certainly the cause. Among his predictions, he said global warming would hit both extremes in the water cycle—severe droughts and forest fires, with heavy rains and floods likely. His testimony was like lightning, igniting all sides of a growing climate-change debate. Last week, on the anniversary of his June 23, 1988, testimony, Hansen, now the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, returned to Capitol Hill with similar charges but with a greater sense of urgency. Although climate change is much better understood today and fewer doubters remain, Hansen said, little has been accomplished to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and time is running out. In congressional testimony, interviews, and speeches, Hansen urged a “transformational change” in Washington to restrict carbon emissions. Otherwise, he ...