Calling climate change an issue of intergenerational justice on a par with ending slavery, James Hansen will argue in his lecture on being awarded the Edinburgh Medal that current generations have an overriding moral duty to their children and grandchildren to take immediate action, the Guardian reported. Hansen et al.’s paper, “Scientific Case for Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change to Protect Young People and Nature,” is forthcoming in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “This situation raises profound moral issues as young people, future generations, and nature, with no possibility of protecting their future well-being, will bear the principal consequences of actions and inactions of today’s adults,” Hansen et al. conclude.
The UK Guardian reported on April 6:
Nasa scientist: climate change is a moral issue on a par with slavery
Prof Jim Hansen to use lecture at Edinburgh International Science Festival to call for worldwide tax on all carbon emissions
Averting the worst consequences of human-induced climate change is a “great moral issue” on a par with slavery, according to the leading Nasa climate scientist Prof Jim Hansen. …
Hansen, who will next Tuesday be awarded the prestigious Edinburgh Medal for his contribution to science, will also in his acceptance speech call for a worldwide tax on all carbon emissions. …
He said humanity faces repeated natural disasters from extreme weather events which would affect large areas of the planet. “The situation we’re creating for young people and future generations is that we’re handing them a climate system which is potentially out of their control,” he said. “We’re in an emergency: you can see what’s on the horizon over the next few decades with the effects it will have on ecosystems, sea level and species extinction.” …
Hansen will argue in his lecture that current generations have an over-riding moral duty to their children and grandchildren to take immediate action. Describing this as an issue of inter-generational justice on a par with ending slavery, Hansen said: “Our parents didn’t know that they were causing a problem for future generations but we can only pretend we don’t know because the science is now crystal clear. …
He has co-authored a scientific paper with 17 other experts, including climate scientists, biologists and economists, which calls for an immediate 6% annual cut in CO2 emissions, and a substantial growth in global forest cover, to avoid catastrophic climate change by the end of the century.
The paper … has passed peer review and is in the final stages of publication by the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…
Hansen et al., “Scientific Case for Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change to Protect Young People and Nature,” forthcoming in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, revised as of March 23, is posted here.
Scientific Case for Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change to Protect Young People and Nature
Authors: James Hansen, Pushker Kharecha, Makiko Sato, Frank Ackerman, Paul J. Hearty, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Shi-Ling Hsu, Fred Krueger, Camille Parmesan, Stefan Rahmstorf, Johan Rockstrom, Eelco J. Rohling, Jeffrey Sachs, Peter Smith, Konrad Steffen, Lise Van Susteren, Karina von Schuckmann, James C. Zachos
(Submitted on 6 Oct 2011 (v1), last revised 23 Mar 2012 (this version, v3))
Abstract:
Global warming due to human-made gases, mainly CO2, is already 0.8{\deg}C and deleterious climate impacts are growing worldwide. More warming is ‘in the pipeline’ because Earth is out of energy balance, with absorbed solar energy exceeding planetary heat radiation. Maintaining a climate that resembles the Holocene, the world of stable shorelines in which civilization developed, requires rapidly reducing fossil fuel CO2 emissions. Such a scenario is economically sensible and has multiple benefits for humanity and other species. Yet fossil fuel extraction is expanding, including highly carbon-intensive sources that can push the climate system beyond tipping points such that amplifying feedbacks drive further climate change that is practically out of humanity’s control. This situation raises profound moral issues as young people, future generations, and nature, with no possibility of protecting their future well-being, will bear the principal consequences of actions and inactions of today’s adults.
Dr. Hansen and colleagues also have a new paper, “Public Perception of Climate Change and the New Climate Dice,” that was submitted to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 5. The paper as submitted is posted here.
Public Perception of Climate Change and the New Climate Dice
Authors: James Hansen, Makiko Sato, Reto Ruedy
Abstract:
“Climate dice”, describing the chance of unusually warm or cool seasons relative to climatology, have become progressively “loaded” in the past 30 years, coincident with rapid global warming. The distribution of seasonal mean temperature anomalies has shifted toward higher temperatures and the range of anomalies has increased. An important change is the emergence of a category of summertime extremely hot outliers, more than three standard deviations (3{\sigma}) warmer than climatology. This hot extreme, which covered much less than 1% of Earth’s surface in the period of climatology, now typically covers about 10% of the land area. It follows that we can state, with a high degree of confidence, that extreme anomalies such as those in Texas and Oklahoma in 2011 and Moscow in 2010 were a consequence of global warming, because their likelihood in the absence of global warming was exceedingly small. We discuss practical implications of this substantial, growing, climate change.
Also see the video of Dr. Hansen’s TED talk, given in February 2012: “Why I must speak out about climate change.”
Earlier posts:
Jim Hansen arrest at White House tar sands pipeline protest: “We had a dream”