Half the Planet Doomed -- If We Don't Act

Author: Eddie Becker

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James Hansen while working for NASA, was one of the first scientists to connect greenhouse gases, like C02, with global temperature rise, warning a congressional hearing back in the 1980's of the dire consequences. I asked him for the latest science, he started in on his most recent journal paper to be published soon - but then suddenly stopped, remembering, that he was embargoed from talking - until publication. So I told him to just talk about the science and not mention the Journal name -- which is very old, prestigious and Royal. (UPDATE The paper to be published mid summer 2013 by the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A (Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A)) see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/jul/10/james-hansen-fossil-fuels-runaway-global-warming He says that if we burn up 100% of the earth's fossil fuels, we'll make 50% of the earth humanly uninhabitable. So it seems it's not the end of the world, like some predict -- well maybe the end for half the world! But for most of those left the earth wouldn't be such a nice place to live. Hansen more precise statement on CO2 emissions and climate can be found here http://citizenschallenge.blogspot.com/2013/04/james-hansen-making-things-clearer.html Hansen started his career at NASA back in the 1980's specialized in understanding the Venusian atmosphere. NASA scientists were trying to figure out why the surface temperature of the planet Venus was hotter than Mercury's, despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun and receiving only 25% of the solar energy then Mercury. Instrumentation showed the atmosphere of Venus composed mostly of CO2, with some water vapor and sulfur dioxide all working together to trap heat like a huge greenhouse and super-heat the planet. Another peculiar thing, about Venus, was that there was not much difference between night and day temperatures, unlike Mercury, where temperatures at night were colder by a factor of 6-7 times. Meaning that the atmosphere on Venus, conducts heat - so the more greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere the less cooling at night!. So when Hansen looked at earth's atmosphere, and saw atmospheric Co2 concentration rise along with global earth temperatures, he sounded the alarm and still is. Though, had space scientists discovered an asteroid on trajectory to wipe out half the earth, I think we would likely be doing more to head that off. The USA seems likely to approve the XL pipeline, that in the short term will make us more dependent on the dirtiest fossil fuels. The so called global economic recession has not significantly cut down emissions. China surpassed the US as the top Co2 emitter (2011 data) -- though when population is factored in, China, per-capita, emits 3-4 times less Co2 per person, and has invested almost a third more in renewable energy research then the U.S. (2009 -10). Which is all to say that things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better. Transcript Hansen: Well, I think the most important thing my colleagues and I have come up with in recent years is the fact that if we burn all of the fossil fuels, more than half the planet will be uninhabitable by humans. So it makes absolutely no sense to be going after every fossil fuel we can find. We are going to have to leave the dirtiest ones like the tar sands, tar shale, fracking for gas. We are going to have to leave those in the ground. Otherwise we are going to create a situation in which we will have an unlivable planet for our grandchildren and future generations. Interviewer: So how far along are we in burning half the fossil fuels that are in the ground? Hansen: We've burned only a fraction; only about a tenth of the fossil fuels. But we're trying to get all of them out of the ground. It makes no sense. We have got to move to clean energies. We are already beginning to see the impacts with increased storms, increased droughts. But the long range consequences will be even worse. It makes no sense to continue down that path. We have got to move to clean energies. We have got to put a price on fossil fuels by collecting a fee from the fossil fuel companies and distributing the money to the public so the public can make the changes that are necessary to move to more energy efficiency and clean energy. Interviewer: What do you think about today? Hansen: This is great. This is by far the biggest crowd we have ever had and finally I think the public is waking up to the fact that our governments are working for the fossil fuel industry. Our governments are well oiled and they are coal fired. The public has got to begin to put the pressure on the governments to serve the people, not the special interests.

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We have to do away with the corrupt money system. Capitalism created this Global Warming problem in the first place. If we share the resources and technology without cost, we will be able to switch over to clean energy sources immediately and save our planet.

There are some new discoveries concerning Climate change models on their way into the public domain which will change our viewpoint, and Dr. David Evans work on this subject will hopefully put to rest the issue of CO2 and CAGW.

I AGREED

Time to start weaning ourselves from our hydrocarbon addiction.

I took your invitation, and decided to look at your video here. I am generally on the skeptical side, not because there is no global warming at all, but what there is grossly exaggerated, the science is nowhere near as settled as the radical environmentalists claim, and their remedies are socialistic and far too drastic. I also don't think much of hanson, believing he is biased. He tipped it a bit here when he declared fracked natural gas to be one of the dirtiest fuesls, when it is actually much cleaner than coal or oil, and the fracking boom is one reason why USA COT emissions have actually fallen some recently. I am also very suspicious of anybody who rants about global arming, but also opposes nuclear power, since nuclear power is by far the best non co2 energy source at the moment.

kindly fuck and rad,pump to andhra(telugu) government and telugu peoples they are prepared,trained,cloned to give mental torture to world inventist ,great scientist note- telugu people

So yea there is oil left, but according to Hansen, and the scientists that study this, using it up - will doom half the planet and in the half that's left, life will likely not be very pleasant.

Sorry man, but there is enough oil in America for the nxt 100 yrs. Do you want to live under Islam and Communism which is just around the corner. Not me.

What evidence do you have to make those statement?

So now that Hansen says there has been no global warming I'm sure the statements he makes here will be recanted. Funny how the religion of global warming is completely imploding because actual data is being collected and read. On to the next bandwagon.

Seems, the XL pipeline isn't approved yet and its also being built. "Eleanor got arrested for the first time in her life protesting the Keystone XL pipeline in front of the White House in 2011. A year later, she was arrested on her own land alongside actress Daryl Hannah as they stood in front of heavy equipment to stop construction of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline." How the Keystone XL Pipeline Has Become Too Big to Approve May 17 Huffington Post

I was noticing that when looking up things in line with my thesis there, my mind hurt when I saw a propaganda article that said the bad environmentalist greens were the Ones Responsible for getting science wrong and opposing DDT use at the expense of the suffering and death of those people by malaria, and then it waltzed forward to speak of the scientific wrongheadedness of Global Warming! Attack enviromentalists for causing Malaria (that's maybe the cover story) & then attack Climate Change!

With Global Temperature rise, the environment for malaria carrying mosquitoes (and many other insect bearing diseases) with resistance to DDT and other insecticides will continue to spread and cover increasing parts of the globe. Some of those who use the DDT issue to "attack greens" have also tried to discredit scientist who warn of Climate Change. Politics may be behind some of these attacks - best bet is stick with the credible science and scientists.

If the POPS convention dates to 2001, I am Wrong to speak of it as a key to the history. The central idea: after using tons of DDT certain individuals and groups worked to actively block it for Africa & etc use (not a ban nor POPS perhaps but years of actions) See, Carson's Ecological Genocide & WorldWatch Institute; Malaria, Mosquitoes, and DDT "The "Global Malaria Eradication Program," launched in 1955, became one of the first major undertakings of the newly created World Health Organization"

I believe the man promoting DDT long ago Really Did eat a teaspoon per day. I don't believe this sorta, DDT 'chlorinated benzine rings' is Just Absolutely Harmless. But it's lots better than pure chlorine or benzine. Slenda and Prozac seem to be Worse Deals as weirdo-pseudo-organic items with Cl or F halogen! The USA and "Europe eliminated this horrible disease by using DDT and other pesticides, along with window screens, aerial spraying of mosquitoes, drugs and other measures." The Killer Elite

Greens Lie, Africans Die: "malaria is also, and much more so, a disease of callous, intransigent environmental extremism and wanton disregard for human life. A disease whose prevention is hampered, and actively thwarted" January 2011 Paul Driessen and Robert Novak -- I think they are jumping to conclusions when they state that environmental extremism accounts for this. My understanding is that deliberate murder is the underlying motivation; not some blind-to-this anti-pollution one.

The ban being in the USA only: this is inconsistent with the handful of sources mentioning the genocide. I was surprised to see on a page of the book by Steward Brand ECOPRAGMATIST MANIFESTO refer to "Silent Spring" and the POPS having caused many malaria deaths. So there is 1 serious mention in a recent important book. POPS agreement does not utilize the term "ban" Paul Herman Muller Nobel Prize in 1948. "DDT residual house spraying is an inexpensive, highly effective, practice against malaria"

The DDT ban was only within the US. China is a major user and exporter of DDT. Unfortunately mosquitoes have acquired resistance because of continued agricultural use of DDT. Many program have switched to malathion, which though more expensive, proved effective. The World Health Organization continues to recommend DDT only where mosquitoes are not resistant. Trace DDT now common in Chinese rice, Ethiopian coffee and many other imported food crops where DDT use in agriculture is widespread.

I agree.

Yes, He spoke at the Univ of Oregon. He sounds like a responsible civil planner engineer, a technician scientist. When he stated that Tar Sands Oil must Not be Used for oil Energy he qualified his statement with a 'at this time' statement. Like well ya got a lot of useful material there in that Alberta dirt and thou it's a juicy prize economically, & a great material for doing sci-tech stuff, gobbling up now for energy needs is suicidal. 150 years from now when this specific crisis is over okay.

Half the Planet Doomed -- If We Don't Act - Scientist Says

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