The article below is the text from the June 23, 2008 testimony of NASA scientist James Hansen to Congress. A PDF version of the the testimony can be downloaded here. The drawing above of the American Eagle chained to oil by Nat Scrimshaw as part of the Rey Center’s 2008 Earthday poster is based on a similar cartoon drawn by Hans Rey in the 1950’s.
Global Warming Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points Near
James Hansen (1)
My presentation today is exactly 20 years after my 23 June 1988 testimony to Congress, which alerted the public that global warming was underway. There are striking similarities between then and now, but one big difference.
Again a wide gap has developed between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known by policymakers and the public. Now, as then, frank assessment of scientific data yields conclusions that are shocking to the body politic. Now, as then, I can assert that these conclusions have a certainty exceeding 99 percent.
The difference is that now we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed to defuse the global warming time bomb. The next President and Congress must define a course next year in which the United States exerts leadership commensurate with our responsibility for the present dangerous situation.
Otherwise it will become impractical to constrain atmospheric carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas produced in burning fossil fuels, to a level that prevents the climate system from passing tipping points that lead to disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity’s control.
Changes needed to preserve creation, the planet on which civilization developed, are clear. But the changes have been blocked by special interests, focused on short-term profits, who hold sway in Washington and other capitals.
I argue that a path yielding energy independence and a healthier environment is, barely, still possible. It requires a transformative change of direction in Washington in the next year.
Continue reading ‘Global Warming Twenty Years Later’
On day three of Making Art With Nature: Habitat Trail, taught by Eco Artist Cynthia Robinson, we started out our day with a mapping project. The goal was to create a map of the Curious George Cottage Nature Trail, complete with identifiable landmarks so that we could eventually use the map to mark the 
locations of our sculptures and other creations. Each child choose three objects located along the trail to draw (bridge, tree, boulder, etc). Once the drawings were complete we made one large map and each child added their drawings to the correct place on the map.
