Posted by
Playful Walrus on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 3:17:50 PM
We can’t go a few days without some politician, government official, paid pandering advertisement, or celebrity giving us dire predictions about global warming unless we make radical changes to our lives right now. Conveniently, these changes always involve giving government agencies more power and money, restricting the freedoms of the people, and the need to buy one company’s products.
The latest in NASA’ James Hansen.
Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action.
James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long 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," 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."
I wonder if he has ever said that before? I know others have. I remember from the 70s and 80s that by now, we were not supposed to have drinking water, we were going to have no landfill space, the oceans were going to be deadly to the touch, the Amazon was going to be gone, and the air would be so smoggy we’d all be choking constantly throughout the day. I’m sure there is something “we” did, of course, to prevent or stave off these disasters – by “we” I mean government restrictions and Hollywood stars holding fundraisers.
This guy starts to give some specifics – specifics that can be tested. That’s important.
Burning fossil fuels like coal is the chief cause of man-made greenhouse gases. Hansen said the Earth's atmosphere has got to get back to a level of 350 parts of carbon dioxide per million. Last month, it was 10% higher: 386.7 parts per million.
Man-made is the key here. Things like erupting volcanoes and naturally-occurring wildfires and animal flatulence are other causes, so even if we stop our output, we're still going to have greenhouses gases. I fail to see what the big deal is about carbon dioxide. Are we all supposed to hold our breath? You first, alarmists. Our planet has a system that balances itself out – sunlight, winds, rains, ocean currents, trees, microscopic life – it is quite fascinating stuff.
Fossil fuels are good for very few things. Fossil fuels are efficient. They can provide more energy than it takes to use them, unlike some “alternatives”. Let’s use them for energy as long as we can. The planet will be just fine.
Hansen, echoing work by other scientists, said that in five to 10 years, the Arctic will be free of sea ice in the summer.
I like specifics. This is good. I asked Prince Charles to provide specifics in a prior entry here.
Two questions I want all of you warners to answer:
1. What exactly do we need to do and by when?
2. What exactly will happen if we don't and when?
I want observable, testable, measurable specifics, such as “We need to stay below X parts of carbon dioxide per million in our atmosphere for at least 90% of the next 10 years.” And “If we don’t, the sea levels will rise X feet.”
And then, if you are proved wrong, I want you to shut up and pay up. I don’t want you trying to deflect accountability for your statements in the future with charges of racism, or “failed policies”, or “this doesn’t put food on my child’s plate” or “Americans are tired of this kind of division.”
But Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., committee chairman, said, "Dr. Hansen was right. Twenty years later, we recognize him as a climate prophet."
This is from a guy who thinks the federal government should regulate theme park rides. Obama should be making sure that Space Mountain is safe. Yeah… right. Well, he does spend most of his time in Fantasyland.