« Interesting correlation | Main | Daily Anarchy » The ice is meltingJim Hansen, the director of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and Bush's top climate modeller, says the Greenland ice cap is melting even faster than scientists had feared, and "the implications for rising sea levels - and climate change - could be dramatic." This isn't surprising for those who've been attentive to the signs of global climate change for years now, but we don't often hear acknowledgement of the climate change scenario from scientists connected with the Bush administration, and Hansen offers insight into why that would be: ...a few weeks ago, when I - a Nasa climate scientist - tried to talk to the media about these issues following a lecture I had given calling for prompt reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases, the Nasa public affairs team - staffed by political appointees from the Bush administration - tried to stop me doing so. I was not happy with that, and I ignored the restrictions. The first line of Nasa's mission is to understand and protect the planet.Hansen goes on to say that "we have to stabilise emissions of carbon dioxide within a decade, or temperatures will warm by more than one degree. That will be warmer than it has been for half a million years, and many things could become unstoppable." As a matter of policy we have to focus on energy efficiency and renewables. We need energy policy driven by science, not by short-term economic interests and "faith-based initiatives." [Link] jon posted this at 7:06 AM |
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