NASA researcher discusses climate change
James Hansen speaks about CO2 emissions and the crisis’ ongoing challenges.
By Joe Preiner (Contact)
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
Global warming isn’t all bad news. Government policy might not be changing, but public awareness of the problem is on the rise.
That was the message James Hansen, NASA administrator and researcher, delivered Monday afternoon to a packed house at the Spahr Engineering Classroom.
Hansen’s lecture, “Threat to the Planet: Dark and Bright Sides of Global Warming,” focused on the continuous changes that affected the climate of the planet. He said the burning of fossil fuels played a large part in the deteriorating condition of Earth’s atmosphere.
“If we want to preserve a planet like the one we’ve had over the last 1,000 years, we’ve got to reduce the CO2 level,” Hansen said.
The good news is that the severity of the situation is producing positive change. Hansen said the necessity of reducing greenhouse gas emissions had become a mainstream issue. He said the reduction of these emission levels would help minimize the effects of climate change that had previously seemed unavoidable.
“You’re going to see changes,” Hansen said. “You can mark my word on that.”
Niall Kelleher, St. Louis junior, said he agreed with Hansen. Kelleher said he could see change coming with the continuing development of the scientific realm. He also said that he believed most people cared about climate change, but that contradictory arguments confused people as to what was really going on.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 30 percent since the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, according to an article on Encyclopedia of Earth, an online reference for environmental issues. The article also states that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere grows by about 2 parts per million each year. That growth overwhelms the earth’s geologic system, which is accustomed to slow changes. These emissions are rapidly changing the atmosphere.
Hansen said the levels of carbon dioxide were at a point where they could cause polar ice caps to melt. He said the recent increase in melting had resulted in both Greenland’s and Antarctica’s ice sheets losing mass. Along with the melting polar ice, Hansen said climate change also caused animal extinction and increased the number of wild fires.
“The public doesn’t yet recognize that we have reached a point of emergency,” Hansen said during his presentation. “They stick their head outside and think, ‘This feels great.’ We are very capable of changing the planet.”
The main problem, according to Hansen, is carbon dioxide. He said half of the CO2 in the atmosphere today can be attributed to the burning of coal. Hansen said one solution was to eliminate the use of coal as a fossil fuel. If that solution was implemented, Hansen said, the problem of global warming would become more solvable.
Brandon Dekosky, Overland Park senior, said it was refreshing to hear Hansen speak because he was able to approach climate change from many different angles. Dekosky said he also felt good about Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto of the Holcomb coal plant proposal this year. The two coal-fired plants have been a hotly debated issue in Kansas since they were proposed last fall.
Hansen was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2006.
— Edited by Mary Sorrick
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