Dr James Hansen says we should prosecute climate change liars
Dr James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and one of the worlds most prominent climate scientist, says in an article on the WorldWatch Institute website that climate change liars “should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.”
“Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil fuel companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, just as tobacco companies discredited the link between smoking and cancer. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming.”
Dr James Hansen wrote the guest opinion entry titled “Global Warming Twenty Years Later” in light of his testimonial to the US congress, 20 years after his 1988 June 23 testimony. In it he warns that “we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed to defuse the global warming time bomb,” and that the “climate is nearing dangerous tipping points.” According to Dr James Hansen we only have two years left to act.
He also wrote that the “safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is no more than 350 ppm” and that the 450 ppm (two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) goal, that for example the European Union has agreed on, “is a recipe for global disaster, not salvation.”
Dr James Hansen urges that the “time is short” and that the 2008 USA election is “critical for the planet”. But when our politicians remain silent and at “loggerheads” we, the “citizens must lead.”
“We must demand a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. We must block fossil fuel interests who aim to squeeze every last drop of oil from public lands, off-shore, and wilderness areas. Those last drops are no solution. They yield continued exorbitant profits for a short-sighted, self-serving industry, but no alleviation of our addiction or long-term energy source.”
As Dr James Hansen says, “time is short.” So should we really wait for the mobs of climate change refugees to take out their revenge or should we start prosecuting these liars and climate criminals right now?


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