NASA scientist James Hansen: nothing left to lose ... by gimleteye

James Hansen, one of the most persuasive and compelling voices in the United States against climate change deniers, was arrested at a White House protest yesterday.

There are those, of course, who disagree that scientists have any role in public advocacy. In the U.S., deniers have not only had the media platform (ie. Fox News, Rush) to launch their jihads against environmental rules and regulations, they also have pinned down American politics by commandeering campaign finance law. In the battle for the heart and soul of America-- the scientists and James Hansen are not winning.

In Florida, if drought hasn't helped us pay attention, maybe extreme cold will. A peer reviewed science journal just published, "Severe 2010 Cold-Water Event Caused Unprecendented  Mortality to Corals of the Florida Reef Tract and Reversed Previous Survivorship Patterns."

Background
Coral reefs are facing increasing pressure from natural and anthropogenic stressors that have already caused significant worldwide declines. In January 2010, coral reefs of Florida, United States, were impacted by an extreme cold-water anomaly that exposed corals to temperatures well below their reported thresholds (16°C), causing rapid coral mortality unprecedented in spatial extent and severity.

Conclusions/Significance
The cold-water anomaly of January 2010 caused the worst coral mortality on record for the Florida Reef Tract, highlighting the potential catastrophic impacts that unusual but extreme climatic events can have on the persistence of coral reefs. Moreover, habitats and species most severely affected were those found in high-coral cover, inshore, shallow reef habitats previously considered the “oases” of the region, having escaped declining patterns observed for more offshore habitats. Thus, the 2010 cold-water anomaly not only caused widespread coral mortality but also reversed prior resistance and resilience patterns that will take decades to recover.

This is one --and only one-- of the indicators of extreme weather attributable to climate change. Collectively, as a society, we haven't begun to appreciate what it means to have lifted the human species to unparalleled achievements in the past 2000 years and yet be on the verge of threatening our place in tens of millions of years of evolution.

Back in the Clinton era, Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt said that we need to "walk more lightly on the earth." His words sound quaint in relation to the backlash of the past decade against science and reason, as our political climate is wracked by fear and its flames stoked by extremists.

There is an imperative to shift government policies in common sense ways. And there have been changes but mostly in line with the profit motive of large corporations. We've had the corn ethanol fiasco. The wind power fiasco. And the failure to create a new jobs economy around distributed power generation at the consumer level. We've even had the fiasco in Miami-Dade County of the builders objecting to any land use maps that could drive public investment in infrastructure away from flood prone areas. In other words, we seem to be inviting "the deluge".

As Mitt Romney reminded his audience the other day, "corporations are people!" I doubt James Hansen's arrest will give the nation's top corporate executives a second thought. But Hansen, like EOM, is laying down his markers. We have one chance to live on this planet. It is a magnificent opportunity, and if you don't step in and stand up for conserving what we have, for future generations, well; a pox on your house, or, corporate headquarters.