HANSEN: CLIMATE CRIMINALS

NASA scientist James Hansen shakes up Capitol Hill (and the media) with explosive testimony to the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Climate Change. For one thing, he thinks oil industry executives who purposely (and secretly) fund groups to confuse the public about climate science – should be charged with crimes against humanity.

Here are the links to supplement this week’s Radio Ecoshock show:

James Hansen Testimony to Select Committee (June 23, 2008) as a .pdf file.
Title: Global Warming 20 Years Later: Tipping Points Near

James Hansen interview on NPR’s Diane Rehms show (080623) audio file mp3

Other Hansen speeches.

Beyond Zero Emissions Melbourne Australia interview with James Hansen Top US scientist says carbon emissions must stop.
Lo-Fi 30 min 5 MB

JAMES HANSEN SPEECH Mind-blowing, must-listen speech in Texas, on the new hot-state planet. Part 1 27 MB 30 min Part 2 27 MB 30 min Courtesy TUC Radio, San Francisco. Part 3 Questions & Answers 30 min

“The White House Climate Report” (actually from NOAA)
“Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate”

NOAA Press Release explaining this report. June 19, 2008.

Democracy Now “IRS Audited Greenpeace at Request of Exxon Mobil-Funded Group”
March 24, 2006. Text and download available.

Greenpeace database of anti-environmental groups secretly funded by Exxon Mobil
(exxonsecrets.org)

This week’s Radio Ecoshock show is a fast-moving collection of Dr. Hansen’s quotes this week, plus a few other recent ones – woven in with media reaction to his comments on oil exec’s heading for trial.

There is a lot more to Hansen’s message though. Pick up some solid science – and why at 385 parts per million of CO2 we have already PASSED the danger point. Emissions must go down, not up.

Dr. Hansen makes two key suggestions:

1. Stop building any new coal plants, and stop using coal altogether by 2030

2. Build a new power grid. Our current electricity distribution system wastes as much energy as consumer use. Think about that. Hansen says with a new low-loss system as a national priority, then alternative energy really could power the nation.

For fun, I’ve tossed in a fight between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and conservative CNN talk show host Glenn Beck, CNN’s climate Quisling.

Then Democracy Now does real investigative reporting, to show how Exxon has funded climate deniers, just like the tobacco industry denied cancer. One Exxon front group even sent the IRS against Greenpeace (likely with the help of the Bush Administration, my guess…)

And so it goes. A fine mix, with a touch or Reggae. Clip bonanza to bring you up to speed on the debate - and shocking truth about our climate emergency.

Alex Smith
Host

Radio Ecoshock

HANSEN WARNS "DESOLATE" PLANET WITH WARMING

[Click on the title above to hear the 9 minute podcast]

America is the largest single cause of climate change.

So says one of the government's top scientists, James Hansen of NASA in a hard-hitting speech given February 20th in New York. The talk was arranged by the New York Academy of Sciences for the Architecture 2030 conference. But Hansen didn't talk about building anything, other than a crisis movement to stop us from arriving at a "different" and "desolate" planet.

I know you are busy. Perhaps this system conspires to keep you busy every waking moment. If you don't have time to listen to the full 34 minute speech, I've broken out some of the main quotes, and set them up with a bit of ear candy, to engage the whole mind. It's a 9 minute podcast version you can listen to, pass along, or link to. Please - this man is at the top of his career, studying climate for the last 30 years. Let's pass on what he has to say.

Once you've had a listen to the podcast, you can pass on this link to your blogs, email lists, whatever:

http://www.ecoshock.org/download/ecoshock/ES_070325_Hansen_Pod.mp3

That's the 9 minute version.


For those who want the full 34 minute speech on global warming, go here:


http://www.ecoshock.org/downloads/climate_2007/Arch2030_070220_Hansen_INT.mp3


You can get more info, and the video of the presentation, here:

www.2010imperative.com

And still more info, here:

www.architecture2030.org

Hansen says we can't wait even another year of two, until the next election. We had about ten years to act starting in 2006, he says. In that time frame, carbon emissions must level out to their year 2000 levels, and then start going down rapidly. We are already up by .8 degrees Celsius, and have another 2 degrees in the pipeline, due to carbon already up there, in the oceans, and the infrastructure we won't tear down.

But if we go above 500 parts of carbon dioxide, a giant mechanism swings into place - one that has been happened several times before in Earth's history - leading to a very different planet, with only a fraction of the species surviving. Yes, new life forms will eventually emerge, as we did, but that takes hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of years. In other words, not in any time frame that humans can comprehend.

According to Hansen, some of the carbon we are throwing up now will last up to 500 years. We are making permanent changes, but if we act within the next 9 years, we can still leave a livable planet. He recommends Bill McKibben's "Step It Up" action coming this April.

Is there anything more important than this? Have we got your attention yet?

Get Jim Hansen's message out there!!!

Alex
Radio Ecoshock.
www.ecoshock.org