World Has Only a Decade to Act on Global Warming, NASA Scientist Says

[Frodo]

World has 10-year window to act on climate: expert

Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:04pm
By Mary Milliken

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - A leading U.S. climate researcher said on Wednesday the world has a 10-year window of opportunity to take decisive action on global warming and avert a weather catastrophe.

NASA scientist James Hansen, widely considered the doyen of American climate researchers, said governments must adopt an alternative scenario to keep carbon dioxide emission growth in check and limit the increase in global temperatures to 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

"I think we have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change ... no longer than a decade, at the most," Hansen said at the Climate Change Research Conference in California's state capital.

If the world continues with a "business as usual" scenario, Hansen said temperatures will rise by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 7.2 degrees F) and "we will be producing a different planet."

On that warmer planet, ice sheets would melt quickly, causing a rise in sea levels that would put most of Manhattan under water. The world would see more prolonged droughts and heat waves, powerful hurricanes in new areas and the likely extinction of 50 percent of species.

Hansen, who heads NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has made waves before by saying that President George W. Bush's administration tried to silence him, and heavily edited his and other scientists' findings on a warmer world.

He reiterated that the United States "has passed up the opportunity" to influence the world on global warming.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Your pal Alito will make sure that the world is doomed.

http://www.pej.org/html/print.php?sid=3610

[J. J.]

That would explain all the hurricanes we've be having this yea ... oh, wait.

[MODU]

HEAD FOR THE HILLS!!!!

[Colin]

Ah good I only have 10 years more of this sh**t to listen to.

What's the worse that can happen? I wont be seriously affected. I live 400 miles from the ocean at an altitude of 1200 feet so I don't really care.

[adam]

Haven't they been saying "Only 10 more years!!!" since the 70s?

[J. J.]

Haven't they been saying "Only 10 more years!!!" since the 70s?

Wrong, WRONG, WRONG!  That's what I hate about you tree hugging pinkos!  In the 70's they said that we were entering another ice age!!! 

[Nym90]

That would explain all the hurricanes we've be having this yea ... oh, wait.

True, that is about as much proof of global warming not occuring as the glut of hurricanes the last two years was proof of it occuring. Both are obivously influenced by a lot of factors.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

You'd think J.J. would have learned his lesson (remember 940 heads and 60 tails) and stayed away from any topic on global warming.

[MarkWarner08]

Did NASA's top scientist say that we were entering an ice age in the 1970's? There's a scientific consesus on Global Warming.

[J. J.]

Did NASA's top scientist say that we were entering an ice age in the 1970's? There's a scientific consesus on Global Warming.

You actually did have a number of scientist talking, very seriously, about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling

We actually discussed the possibility in a meteorology class in the early 1980's.

One of the big reasons why we should ignore the same people who predicted the major hurricane season this year because of "global warming."  Truth is, we understand exceptionally little regarding climate. 

What can be said is that if the rate of sea level increase at three times the the highest estimate of current rate it did this century, sea level will be less than one meter higher.  I'm not too worried about that.

[12th Doctor]

You know what would make this really credible?  If it weren't NASA.  It is all too likely that they forgot to covert metric units back into standard.