On the bright side Hansen recently retired from NASA so we are no longer directly paying his salary.
(James Hansen via CNN) — Science has brought us incredible gifts: life-saving vaccines and clean water, air travel and instant communication.
Modern life is built upon the knowledge that the scientific community has gathered and that society — markets, governments, workers — put to use. We have our ancestors to thank.
But will our descendants thank us? Have we put to good use the knowledge we are gaining today to help those who will come after us?
That question is now before one of the highest courts of the United States. As a scientist who has spent the past half-century documenting how mankind is fundamentally altering our climate, I fear that unless the courts understand the threat and require the government to produce a plan of action, the answer of history could be damning.
In a new study, I and my co-authors make indisputably clear what the world’s scientists have increasingly warned: Our climate is changing, and the impacts are growing. The changes harm humans and threaten other life on the planet.
Our study, published in the prestigious peer-reviewed science journal PLOS-ONE, was written in support of a lawsuit against the federal government. The plaintiffs are young people, those to whom we are handing an increasingly warmer and destabilized planet.
They argue that they have a constitutional right to a safe climate, that they have a right to receive from us a planet that supports all life, just as our forebears gave us. It is correctly a legal argument, but it relates to a fundamental moral question.
HT: Climate Depot