This artwork was inspired by a speech given to the US Congress by Dr. James Hansen recently. For the past twenty-five years, Dr. Hansen has been the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NASA’s premiere climate research center. Dr. Hansen is also an adjunct professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University.

On the 20th anniversary of Hansen’s original congressional testimony that sounded the alarm bell on our climate crisis, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming has hosted him again to give a briefing on his vision of the climate challenge as it stands now.

In 1988, discussion of climate change was confined mainly to scientific journals. But on June 23, Dr. Hansen was the lead witness at a hearing of the Senate Energy Committee to explore the issue. His testimony marked the first time a top climate scientist declared that global temperatures had risen beyond the range of natural variability. Since then, scientists from around the world have built an unassailable body of evidence that supports his 1988 testimony. Climate change now looms as a more immediate and serious threat than ever before and in need of swift, effective Congressional action.

You can download Dr. Hansen’s speech to read at the link below courtesy of Columbia University.

Global Warming Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points Near
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TwentyYearsL...

Just over a year ago, Dr. Hansen also went public with a charge that made headlines around the world. He said that the Bush administration had been trying to silence his warnings about the urgent need to address climate change. You can view this video, or read the transcript, on this interview with Dr. Hanson at the link shown below.

Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/21/censoring...

We are ‘outta time’ in dealing with global warming, and we must all act immediately to avoid the catastrophic consequences that will otherwise occur if we fail to heed the warnings we have been given by those with indisputable expertise, such as Dr. Hansen.