The Collapse of Public Leadership and the Rise of a Citizen-Scientist Alliance for Climate Survival | EV & N 288 | CCTV

http://ecoethics.net/2014-ENVRE120/20181014-EV&N-288-Link.html

YouTube Version

Political leaders have failed their citizens in virtually countries across the world in the face of humanity’s most pressing crisis. Now citizens and scientists are beginning to build new civic alliances to make plans for the transitions that will be necessary for the survival of coastal cities in a climate changed world.

The scientists have been very clear and explicit about what lies in store for the human community as nothing is accomplished in limiting greenhouse gas emissions.  Shortly after the collapse of the Copenhagen climate talks talks in 2009, Dr. James Hansen made this very clear in a talk to the Cambridge Forum in February 2010:

and “After Copenhagen: Real Solutions for Global Climate Change.”

After the Paris “Climate Accord” he similarly emphasized that the agreement fell far short of what is needed, and that even if it were adhered to this agreement would not be sufficient to save coastal cities.

See related:

• Senate Confirms Former BP Oil Defender as Top Environmental Lawyer
  
• U.S. Death Toll from Hurricane Michael at 19 as Dozens Remain Missing + Trump Doubles Down on Climate Change Denial on “60 Minutes”
  
• Tens of Thousands March in Europe Demanding Action on Climate
• Humanity’s March for Sanity and Survival: “The People’s Climate March” – 29 April 2017

For James Hansen’s recent work see:

• Global Warming Acceleration Plus Miscellaneous
  +  Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions Program
• James Hansen: Why I must speak out about climate change
• James Hansen’s 1988 testimony after 30 years. How did he do?
• Links to material from or about Dr. James Hansen
• Institutions and their Leaders in times of Catabolic Collapse |EV & N – 145 | CCTV
  and
• “The Cascading Collapse of American Leadership in World Affairs: The Aftermath of Trump’s Withdrawal from the Paris Global Climate Accord”

Taking Dr. Hansen’s climate statements seriously has been the focus of citizen’s groups around the world including groups like 350.org with the work of Bill McKibben and civic organizations concerned about the future survival of coastal cities.  See:

and

See related:

• Soils, Agriculture, Carbon Sequestration and Human Survival
• Hominid Exceptionalism and the Intrinsic Limit of Human Power in Earth’s Ecosystem
• Setting the Record Straight: The Depth, Severity and History of the Scientific Evidence on Earth’s Unfolding Climate Catastrophe

* * *

The evaporating Mediterranean Sea | BBC

BBC Earth

Published on Apr 19, 2010

New David Attenborough series Dynasties coming soon! Watch the first trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWI1e… –~– Six million years ago the continents of Africa and Europe collided to close the Strait of Gibralter. Starved of water, the Mediterranean Sea evaporated to form a vast desert. The legacy of this vanished ocean? A million years’ worth of salt deposited in mines half a kilimetre beneath the island of Sicily. Extraordinary footage taken from the ground-breaking BBC series Earth: The Power of the Planet. Visit http://www.bbcearth.com for all the latest animal news and wildlife videos and watch more high quality videos on the new BBC Earth

Trump Got Climate Change Pretty Wrong in His Paris Speech (HBO)

VICE News

Published on Jun 2, 2017

Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the most comprehensive climate deal in the history of the planet on Thursday, taking with it the world’s best hope of limiting continued global warming. In a speech in the White House Rose Garden, President Trump announced the United States would walk away from the landmark agreement, signed in late 2015 by 195 nations, calling it a bad deal that prioritized foreign countries’ success at the expense of American workers. Trump spent the majority of his 28-minute speech talking about economics, but when he did talk about the Paris agreement, he was almost entirely wrong. VICE News fact-checked some of his claims. Read the full fact check here: http://bit.ly/2rz32AS

Abrupt Climate Change Will Rapidly Blow Past 1.5C and 2C

Paul Beckwith
Published on Oct 10, 2018

As I filmed today, yet another massive hurricane has just come ashore in Florida’s panhandle. Hurricane Michael, at 155 mph (1 mph shy of Cat. 5) appeared almost out of nowhere and strengthened rapidly in the way too-warm Gulf of Mexico. This video is not just on this storm, but primarily on the human/media/global storm that has arisen with the release of the IPCC 1.5C report on our present state of the climate system, and whether or not we can keep global temperature rise to 1.5C or even to 2C.

See: http://paulbeckwith.net

Hansen’s Climate Science and Advocacy Project Under Way | Science | AAAS

By Eli KintischFeb. 26, 2014 , 2:45 PM

James Hansen may have retired from NASA but he’s still active in the climate change wars. Five months into its existence, his Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at Columbia University is moving ahead on its unique goals. Led by the 72-year-old climate scientist, the initiative focuses on bringing policy-relevant science to the public, building on dogged—and often controversial—efforts along those lines by its director. Some climate scientists devote part of their time, or just lip service, to advocacy or outreach; the program makes these tasks integral to its scientific mission.

The intent for the program’s three-person team, all of whom previously worked at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) at Columbia University, is to continue science, outreach, and advocacy work on climate change but without the limitations that come with a federal job, like working on agency priorities, managing a big lab, or avoiding political activities during work. Text from a recent proposal to a foundation, shared with ScienceInsider, makes clear that Hansen’s group wants to have a political impact. It assails the position “that scientists should not go all the way to describing policy implications of their research.” Instead, it asserts, “The objectivity of science is particularly effective in ferreting out the relative merits of alternative policies.” “The centerpiece of our project remains scientific research,” says Pushker Kharecha, Hansen’s deputy. The team’s studies, according to the proposal text, seek to “connect the dots from advancing basic climate science to promoting public awareness to advocating policy actions.”

As of 2014, Hansen directs the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. The program is working to continue to “connect the dots” from advancing basic climate science to promoting public awareness to advocating policy actions.

Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions Program
Earth Institute
Columbia University
475 Riverside Drive (Room 520-E)
New York, NY 10115 USA

Climate guru James Hansen warns of much worse than expected sea level rise | Environment | The Guardian

Former Nasa researcher and father of climate change awareness says melting of ice sheets could cause ‘several meters’ rise in a century, swamping coastal cities

Oliver Milman in New York Tue 22 Mar 2016 00.01 EDT

The current rate of global warming could raise sea levels by “several meters” over the coming century, rendering most of the world’s coastal cities uninhabitable and helping unleash devastating storms, according to a paper published by James Hansen, the former Nasa scientist who is considered the father of modern climate change awareness.

The research, published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, references past climatic conditions, recent observations and future models to warn the melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will contribute to a far worse sea level increase than previously thought.

Without a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the global sea level is likely to increase “several meters over a timescale of 50 to 150 years”, the paper states, warning that the Earth’s oceans were six to nine meters higher during the Eemian period – an interglacial phase about 120,000 years ago that was less than 1C warmer than it is today.

Global warming of 2C above pre-industrial times – the world is already halfway to this mark – would be “dangerous” and risk submerging cities, the paper said. A separate study, released in February, warned that New York, London, Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai will be among the cities at risk from flooding by 2100.

Hansen’s research, written with 18 international colleagues, warns that humanity would not be able to properly adapt to such changes, although the paper concedes its conclusions “differ fundamentally from existing climate change assessments”.

…(read more).

See related:

See the case of Boston, Massachusetts as an example of a city-wide official response with significant citizen concern and participation:

• Boston Climate & Sea-Level Update