last chance

[Guest guest]

Scientist warns of 'last chance' on warming

SETH BORENSTEIN

 

The Associated Press

 

June 24, 2008 at 1:25 PM EDT

 

WASHINGTON — Exactly 20 years after warning the United States about

global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has got so bad

that the world's only hope is drastic action.

 

James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world long ago passed

the “dangerous level†for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs

to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay

this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades

without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and

dramatic sea level rises.

 

“We're toast if we don't get on a very different path,†Mr. Hansen,

director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes

called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated

Press. “This is the last chance.â€

 

Mr. Hansen brought global warming home to the public in June 1988

during a Washington heat wave, telling a Senate hearing that global

warming was already here. To mark the anniversary, he testified before

the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

where he was called a prophet, and addressed a luncheon at the

National Press Club where he was called a hero by former Democratic

senator Tim Wirth, who headed the 1988 hearing.

 

Internet Links

James Hansen's speech

To cut emissions, Mr. Hansen said, coal-fired power plants that do

not capture carbon-dioxide emissions should not be used in the United

States after 2025 and should be eliminated in the rest of the world by

2030. That carbon-capture technology is still being developed and not

yet cost efficient for power plants.

 

Burning fossil fuels such as coal is the chief cause of man-made

greenhouse gases. Mr. Hansen said Earth's atmosphere has to get back

to a level of 350 parts of carbon dioxide per million. Last month, it

was 10 per cent above that: 386.7 parts per million.

 

Hansen said he will testify on behalf of British protesters against

new coal-fired power plants. Protesters have chained themselves to

gates and equipment at sites of several proposed coal plants in

England.

 

“The thing that I think is most important is to block coal-fired power

plants,†Mr. Hansen told the luncheon. “I'm not yet at the point of

chaining myself, but we somehow have to draw attention to this.â€

 

Frank Maisano, a spokesman for many U.S. utilities, including those

trying to build new coal plants, said while Mr. Hansen has shown

foresight as a scientist, his “stop them all approach is very

simplistic†and shows that he is beyond his level of expertise.

 

The year of Mr. Hansen's original testimony was the world's hottest

year on record at the time. Since then, however, 14 years have been

hotter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration.

 

Two decades later, Mr. Hansen spent his time on the question of

whether it is too late to do anything about it. His answer: There's

still time to stop the worst, but not much time.

 

“We see a tipping point occurring right before our eyes,†Mr. Hansen

told the AP before the luncheon. “The Arctic is the first tipping

point, and it's occurring exactly the way we said it would.â€

 

Mr. Hansen, echoing work by other scientists, said that in five to 10

years, the Arctic will be free of sea ice in the summer.

 

Longtime global warming skeptic Oklahoma Republican Senator James

Inhofe, citing a recent poll, said in a statement: “Hansen, (former

U.S. vice-president) Gore and the media have been trumpeting man-made

climate doom since the 1980s. But Americans are not buying it.â€

 

Representative Ed Markey, a Massassachusetts Democrat who is the

committee's chairman, said, “Dr. Hansen was right. Twenty years later,

we recognize him as a climate prophet.â€

 

 

“We now know that a neo-conservative is an arsonist who sets the house on fire

and six years later boasts that no one can put it out.†- Bill Moyers