"The Threat to the Planet: How Can We Avoid Dangerous Human-Made Climate Change?"

(Brennan Guth Memorial Lecture in conjunction with the Environmental Studies Program)

8:00 PM Monday, October 22, 2007
University Center Ballroom

One of the world’s leading researchers on global warming, Dr. Hansen will speak about his latest findings on this growing threat to the planet and the role of human agency in causing it.

"What Determines Climate Sensitivity?"

Faculty-Student Seminar (in conjunction with the Philosophy Forum)

3:10 AM Monday, October 22, 2007
Gallagher Business Building 123

You are cordially invited to attend a seminar with James Hansen, one of the world’s leading researchers on global warming. Ralph Cicerone, the president of the National Academy of Sciences, says of Dr. Hansen’s standing among scientific researchers studying climate change: “I can’t think of anyone who I would say is better than Hansen. You might argue that there are two or three others as good, but nobody better.”

Dr. Hansen is the head of NASA’s top unit for climate study, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He also teaches Earth and Environmental Science at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. In numerous interviews, articles, and scientific papers he has argued that global warming is accelerating. He points to the melting arctic and to Antarctica where new data show massive losses of ice to the sea. In a 60 Minutes interview with Scott Pelley, he declared that “the natural changes, the speed of the natural changes are now dwarfed by the changes that humans are making to the atmosphere and to the surface.” According to Dr. Hansen, there can be no doubt at all concerning human agency in causing global warming. By burning fossil fuels that pump out greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons chiefly—mankind is threatening the planet with irreversible damage. He fears that the earth is reaching a point of no return.

In this same interview for 60 Minutes, Dr. Hansen accused the Bush White House of seeking to prevent him and other NASA scientists from telling the truth about global warming. He described the White House position on global warming as “a recipe for environmental disaster.” In any conflict between scientists and politicians on matters of science, he calls for politicians to retreat. Unfortunately, this is not what is happening today on the crucial issue of global warming. Politicians, their lawyers, and lobbyists for the American Petroleum Institute have sought to muzzle Dr. Hansen, who will give a report to the seminar on his latest research.