Monday April 19, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Kennedy Hall, Call Auditorium
Dr. James E. Hansen (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New
York, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University's Earth Institute)
Global Climate Change, What Must We Do Next
Climate change scientist, and author of Storms of My
Grandchildren, will deliver the Jill and Kenneth Iscol Distinguished
Environmental Lecture.
The Iscol Lecture brings prominent scholars, newsmakers, scientists,
and leaders to Cornell to address environmental issues of paramount
importance to humankind.
Recognizing scholarship on the frontiers of scientific inquiry, the
Iscol Lecture provides opportunities for Cornell students, faculty,
staff, and the public to gain new knowledge about pressing
environmental issues.
A faculty award committee, representing a cross-section of academic
disciplines, annually selects the Jill and Ken Iscol Distinguished
Environmental Lecturer.
2010 Iscol Lecturer James E. Hansen April 19, 2010
Dr. Hansen is director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in
New York, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia Universitys Earth Institute.
An active researcher in planetary atmospheres and climate science for
nearly 40 years, Hansen is best known for his Congressional testimonies
on climate change that widely elevated the awareness of global warming,
and is noted as one of the world's most famous climatologists.
Hansen's work has evolved from space science to climate science. His
early research on Venus clouds led to their identification as sulfuric
acid. Since the late 1970s, he has worked on computer simulations of
Earth's atmosphere to gauge the human impact on global climate.
From STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN James Hansen Fall 2009
Chapter 9, “An Honest, Effective Path” pp 184-185
“…..your governments are lying through their teeth. …..the truth is
that they know that their planned approach will not come anywhere near
achieving the intended global objectives. Moreover, they are now taking
actions that, if we do not stop them, will lock in guaranteed failure
to achieve the targets that they have nominally accepted.
How can we say that about our governments? How can we be so
sure? We just have to open our eyes. First, they are allowing
construction of new coal-fired plants. Second, they are allowing
construction of coal-to-liquids plants that will produce oil from coal.
Third, they are allowing development of unconventional fossil fuels
such as tar sands. Fourth, they are leasing public lands and remote
areas for oil and gas exploration to search for the last drop of
hydrocarbons. Fifth, they are allowing companies to lease land for
hydraulic fracturing, an environmentally destructive mining technique
to extract every last bit of gas by injecting large amounts of water
deep underground to shatter rocks and release trapped gas. Sixth, they
are allowing highly destructive mountaintop –removal and long-wall coal
mining, both of which cause extensive environmental damage for the sake
of getting as much coal as possible. In long-wall mining, a giant
machine chews out a coal seam underground-subsequent effects include
groundwater pollution and subsidence of the terrain, which can damage
surface structures. And on and on.”
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