James Hansen told Congress on Monday June 23, 2008 that the world has long passed
the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs
to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay
this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades
without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and
dramatic sea level rises.
"We're toast if we don't get on a very
different path," Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space
Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming
science, told The Associated Press. "This is the last chance."
Hansen is particularly critical of coal fired power plants. Until carbon capture technology is able to remove and sequester the carbon in exhaust gasses, coal fied power plants remain the most concentrated source of CO2 emmissions to the atmosphere.