COP21 Paris: Climate Scientist James Hansen: “The Planet is out of Balance”

PARIS-James Hansen was the guest to a press conference at the Paris Climate Talks on December 2. Hansen was one of the earlier scientists who first warned of climate chaos in the 1980’s. In 1988 he provided documentation to the public of a climate that had warmed to record levels and that the reason was linked to pollution. He warned that the effect would last for centuries.

After a senate hearing that year featuring Hansen as a speaker on the topic, former Colorado Senator Tim Wirth accepted the science and has since worked to halt climate change.

Hansen is author of the book: Storms of my Grandchildren. The title of his talk was Speaking Truth to Power and he began by speaking to the differences in the effect of limiting global warming from 2 degrees to 1.5 degrees.

“Warming ocean is the source of the biggest threat that we face and that is the melting of the ice shelves around Antarctica and Greenland which then speeds up the loss of mass from the ice sheets and the sea level rise.”

He focused his talk on climate justice and governmental honesty.