James Hansen, a former senior NASA climate scientist, has submitted a new paper which states that the global temperature for 2016 will likely be 1.25oC more than temperatures from pre-industrial times. Also noted in the paper is the trend of rising global temperatures, where the world has been heating up 0.18oC per decade over the past 45 years. Hansen is not alone with these predictions, he’s also backed up by 11 other experts who are concerned with the world’s rising temperatures.
 
Worrisome Temperatures and Targets
Hansen once again comes front and centre to discuss the issue of climate change. He was the scientist who initially brought climate change in the public arena through a testimony to the US congress in the 1980s. And now he rises up again to say that society is being misled into thinking that climate change is being address appropriately.
 
The Earth has not experienced such high global temperatures since the Eamian period, an interglacial era which ended 115,000 years ago. During the Eamian period the Earth had less ice and the sea level was about 6-9 metres (20-30 feet) higher than today. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also said last week that the Earth’s CO2 levels will stay above the symbolic 400 parts per million (ppm) level, which is the highest CO2 concentration since the Pliocene era 3 million years ago.  
 
During the 2015 Paris climate accord, a target was set for a 1.5oC limit on the average global temperature rise. Even the 2oC limit agreed upon by 195 nations seems ambitious since it’s dependent on a yet-to-be-developed technology to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The idea is that greenhouse gas emissions would be cut and supplemented by a conversion to biofuels. Then, the emissions from the burned biofuels would be buried underground and further be supplemented by a technology which sucks CO2 directly from the atmosphere. Their proposition is worrisome to say the least because it’s unclear how they plan to implement land use changes, especially with a global population that continues to rise.
 
However, at the current rate of global temperature increase, it seems that the world will need advanced technological development as soon as possible to get the ball rolling on climate change action and possibly hundreds of trillions of dollars in investments by the coming generations. Hansen sees this as a burdening situation, especially for young people who are not being given promising building blocks for change.
 
Call for Climate Change Action
According to Hansen, it’s time for the judicial system to step in and force governments to take action against climate change. It’s important for citizens to take a stand against the global problem of climate change like the 21 youths, aged 8 to 19, who filed a constitutional lawsuit against the Obama administration in 2015 for the government’s lack of commitment and action to slow climate change. Hansen and his granddaughter are also part of a legal challenge filed in Oregon which asserts the government’s violation to the rights of young people to life, liberty and property.
 
Hansen has been an outspoken climate change activist since he retired from NASA in 2013, and recently submitted a paper to the Earth System Dynamics journal as a discussion paper. Although it veers away from the scientific process and is yet to be peer reviewed, it’s being used as a supporting document in the legal case filed by the 21 youths against the US government. Hansen acknowledges that some scientists might object to the quick publication of the paper, but nonetheless action needs to be taken to address climate change.
 
He has also repeatedly called for a global tax on carbon emissions. This would ensure that fossil fuel companies would be forced to pay for extraction and ultimately environmental degradation. This call to action would be similar to the way in which the tobacco industry has been sued because of the negative health impacts cigarettes pose.
 
Limiting Factors for Change
One of the biggest limiting factors to climate action, according to Hansen, is the corrupting influence of special interest groups. Business people in energy sectors, such as the oil and gas industry, have a stronger grasp on decision making than citizens fighting for climate change action. Because of this inequity, Hansen believes that citizens needs to apply more pressure on the judicial system to instigate changes within the Congress and the executive branch of government. The people must stand up for climate action and pressure the US government like they did during the civil rights movement.  
 
This does not only apply to the citizens of the United States, but for citizens around the globe. We must take a stand for climate action because research continually reveals that our global temperatures continue to rise at an alarming rate. We must evaluate our day-to-day lives and see where we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. We must also take a stand in our communities, cities and countries and demand for investments in alternative energy sources and stand up against the preferential treatment of fossil fuel companies in the battle against climate change.