James Hansen – Links to Recent Work

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/

“Storms of My Grandchildren”, by James Hansen

On the webpage “Updating the Climate Science: What Path is the Real World Following?”, Drs. Makiko Sato and James Hansen update figures in the book Storms of My Grandchildren (see LA Times review) and present updated graphs and discussion of key quantities that help provide understanding of how climate change is developing and how effective or ineffective global actions are in affecting climate forcings and future climate change. A few errata in Storms are also provided.

Near Future Presentations

• Oct. 25, 2013: “The Climate Crisis” at Marion Institute, New Bedford, MA, 11:45 am – 12:05 pm.

Recent Communications

Dr. Hansen periodically posts commentary on his recent papers and presentations and on other topics of interest to an e-mail list. To receive announcements of new postings, please click here.

• Oct. 21, 2013: David vs Goliath: on unconventional fossil fuels and Citizens Climate Lobby. In HTML.
• Sep. 26, 2013: Climate Sensitivity, Sea Level and Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: Discussion of paper in Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. In HTML.
• Sep. 13, 2013: Tar Sands and Dirty Tricks: Discussion of New Yorker article on Tom Steyer and KXL pipeline. In HTML.
• Sep. 13, 2013: Europe Standing Tall Against a Rogue State: Discussion of European trip re tar sands. In HTML.
• May 29, 2013: The American Party: the need for a centrist 3rd party.

→ Go to older postings

Recent Presentations

September 2012: A New Age of Risk: Presentation given at Columbia University on Sep. 22.
+ Download PDF (2.1 MB)
+ Download PPT (2.5 MB)

→ Go to older presentations

Recent Video

December 2012: Discussion at Climate One about Superstorm Sandy and Carbon Pricing.

→ Go to older video

Recent Scholarly Publications

Hansen, J., Mki. Sato, G. Russell, and P. Kharecha, 2013: Climate sensitivity, sea level, and atmospheric carbon dioxide. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, 371, 20120294, doi:10.1098/rsta.2012.0294.

Previdi, M., B.G. Liepert, D. Peteet, J. Hansen, D.J. Beerling, A.J. Broccoli, S. Frolking, J.N. Galloway, M. Heimann, C. Le Quéré, S. Levitus, and V. Ramaswamy, 2013: Climate sensitivity in the Anthropocene. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 139, 1121-1131, doi:10.1002/qj.2165.

→ Go to older publications

Other Recent Publications

Apr. 4, 2013: Keystone XL: The pipeline to disaster. Op-ed in the Los Angeles Times.

→ Go to older publications

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

Ring of Fire 10/20/13

freespeechtv

Published on Oct 21, 2013

Investigative journalist and newspaper publisher Rick Outzen discusses the Obama administration’s hostility towards the press.

Richard Eskow from the Campaign for America’s Future talks about the price tab of Republican policies.

Attorneys Dave Teselle and Howard Nations talk about the extremist groups that are pulling the strings for John Boehner.

Author Ari Berman talks about the GOP’s plan to redistrict the South into a permanent Republican majority.

Farron Cousins from The Trial Lawyer Magazine talks about new reports that link income inequality to the “dumbing down” of American citizens.

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

Media

Ring of Fire 10/13/13

freespeechtv

Published on Oct 14, 2013

Ring of Fire co-host Sam Seder talks about the 5th IPCC report, and the action needed to help curb the effects of climate change.

Author and columnist David Sirota tells us how state politicians are stealing money from public employee pension funds. States, Politicians, Republicans, Public Employees, Retirement, Funds, Economics.

TV and radio host David Pakman will discuss the connection between cuts to higher education and faltering state economies.

Farron Cousins from The Trial Lawyer Magazine will talk about the aging politicians of the Democratic Party, and why that’s not sustainable for the party.

Radio host Richard Fowler will discuss the importance of training a new generation of political leaders.

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

Latest On Fukushima – 21 October 2013

freespeechtv

Published on Oct 21, 2013

Thom hartmann talks with Kevin Kamps, Nuclear Waste Watch Dog-Beyond Nuclear
Website: www.beyondnuclear.org

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120
Nuclear

Al Gore: “Carbon Bubble” Is Going to Burst – Avoid Oil Stocks | Daily Ticker – Divest Harvard

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/al-gore-carbon-bubble-going-burst-avoid-oil-121707563.html
By Aaron Task | Daily Ticker – Fri, Oct 18, 2013 11:30 AM EDTI
It’s no surprise that former Vice President Al Gore isn’t a fan of big oil. Gore received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for “informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change” and currently is chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit devoted to solving the climate crisis.

But Gore is also an investor – he’s co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management and a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins – and believes fossil fuels are almost as bad for your portfolio as they are for the planet.

“We have a carbon bubble,” Gore tells me in the accompanying video. “Bubbles by definition involve a lot of asset owners and investors who don’t see what in retrospect becomes blindingly obvious. And this carbon bubble is going to burst.”

Related: Energy Independence Is A Dumb Idea: Berkshire Hathaway Vice-Chair

Specifically, Gore cites the estimated $7 trillion in carbon assets on the books of multinational energy companies. “The valuation of those companies and their assets is now based on the assumption that all of those carbon assets will be sold and burned,” he says. “They are not going to be burned. They cannot be burned and will not be burned. No more than one-third can ever possibly be burned without destroying the future.”

…(read more).

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

Let’s Prevent This Crisis: A Letter to Harvard’s President Faust | Mayor Michael Patrick McGinn – Divest Harvard

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-patrick-mcginn/lets-prevent-this-crisis-_b_4118320.html

Mayor Michael Patrick McGinn    Mayor of Seattle
GET UPDATES FROM Mayor Michael Patrick McGinn
Posted: 10/17/2013 5:49 pm

Dear President Faust,

As a fellow leader of a large institution, I sympathize with your concerns around fossil fuel divestment. But I must disagree with your conclusion that divestment is not warranted or wise. Just as you have a duty to look out for Harvard’s academic mission, the City of Seattle must look out for our employees, who rely on our pension system for a secure retirement. We also share a greater and overlapping responsibility — one to our planet and to future generations.

The moral dimension of climate change, as well as its financial implications, require us to find solutions that make divestment feasible. Over time fossil fuel investments will prove to be highly risky and, ultimately, continued investment in this sector will have strong negative impacts for investors as well as society. You argue that engagement with fossil fuel companies will yield greater benefits than divestment. These companies, with their corrosive influence on politics, funding of climate-deniers, and abhorrent human rights records, will “engage” on climate change, while continuing to extract fossil fuels that we cannot burn if we wish to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Their valuation is based almost entirely on their carbon reserves — reserves that must remain untapped for the sake of our climate and our future. It’s wrong to wreck the planet, and it’s wrong to profit from the business model that is driving that wreckage.

…(read more).

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

The Time To Divest: A Response to Harvard President Drew Faust

Hannah Borowsky and StudentNation on October 15, 2013 – 1:25 PM ET
Student Nation   Campus-oriented news, first-person reports from student activists and journalists about their campus.

Students at Harvard University are urging the administration to divest from fossil fuels. (Flickr/Kelly Delay)

We are taking our future into our own hands.

Harvard students, alongside thousands of others worldwide, are pushing our university to divest from fossil fuels. Our message is simple: if we do not uproot the political influence of the fossil fuel industry, we will face catastrophic climate change.

Harvard University President Drew Faust made a statement on October 10 opposing divestment and siding with the fossil fuel industry. We look to leaders like President Faust to support efforts that better the world and are disappointed that she has chosen the wrong side of history.

President Faust’s response reveals fundamental misunderstandings about our movement. We do not expect divestment to have a financial impact on fossil fuel companies, as President Faust implied. Divestment is a moral and political strategy to expose the reckless business model of the fossil fuel industry that puts our world at risk. It exposes the fossil fuel industry’s influence on our democratic system, its perpetuation of climate change denial, and its continued extraction of hydrocarbons that heat our planet. Divestment calls on citizens to build a powerful climate movement and pressure elected representatives to enact meaningful legislation.

….(read more).

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

Divest Update – 21 October 2013

http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=fa1361b4ea&id=40daceff09&e=0b4a641e42

Divest Harvard Weekly Newsletter October 21, 2013

This Weekend: 24-hour Vigil Students will host a 24 hour vigil this weekend to bear witness to the threat of the climate crisis and the effects of Harvard’s investments in the fossil fuel industry. The vigil will still be going strong on Saturday morning as President Faust, Corporation members, and alumni arrive at Sanders Theater for the kick-off of the $6 billion fundraising Capital Campaign drive– sending a clear message about our commitment to fossil fuel divestment.

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

How the Know Nothing Press Extended the Shutdown1

E120, media,

Climate Change and The Power of Plants

E120, e130,