Dr. James Hansen Retires From NASA

Galileo. Darwin. Hansen.

A giant among scientists for taking on the burden of the most controversial and essential science in history. He faced down congress, faced censorship, and faced religious leaders in a race against time to save the world. And he never stopped working to advance knowledge. Our survival, and the survival of life as we know it, hinges on how quickly we learn to respond to the evidence that we are digging our own graves when we dig up fossil fuels. We create our own ruin, and only together can we stop it.

Yet we debate, deny and ignore the work of this man and a generation of scientists that he inspired around the world who are trying to help us save ourselves.

Today he retires.

Thank you Dr. James Hansen for a career of public service that predicts (and might still change) the course of history on earth. We owe a moment of pause to thank the man who more than any other one person has furthered the science and helped the world understand what climate change is, what it would do, and what we must do to avoid the very worst before it happens. Because of his dedication and skill, now we know: Stop using fossil fuels, Change the history of Earth.

Essential James Hansen links:

TEDTalks:

http://350.org/en/about/blogs/jim-hansen-ted-if-you-knew-what-i-know

Scientific Case for Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change for Young People and Nature:

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1110/1110.1365.pdf

Take a trip to NASA\’s website to explore the amazing work Dr. Hansen guided. Consider how much this man has done to further our understanding of our only home, to make us all more aware of how our destiny rests in our hands.

Link to the page where current updates from his most important works can be found all in one place: http://www.columbia.edu/~mhs119/

In his career, Dr. Hansen taught us about climate tipping points. But lately he\’s been describing a \”human tipping point\”. Here\’s hoping his work was not in vain, that you and I will take up his call to urgent action, and that we will work tirelessly to stop using fossil fuels and reach the \”human tipping point\” in time. We can still abandon this human-caused mass extinction event, driven by an insatiable ship of fuels. But we have to do it today.

Sign a petition today in honor of Dr. James Hansen demanding the State Dept reject the Keystone XL pipeline, a fitting tribute for a man who was arrested twice in front of the White House demanding a stop to the pipeline.

Visit 350.org and sign: act.350.org/letter/a_million_strong_against_keystone/

UPDATES:

Read his  Op-Ed in the LA Times on April 4th to preview what Dr. Hansen plans to do in \”retirement\”.

Read more about his career in this April 4th tribute in the NYTimes. From the article, “Jim has a real track record of being right before you can actually prove he’s right with statistics.”

Dr. Hansen certainly did his best. Now it\’s up to you and me.