Human-Made Climate Change: A Moral, Political and Legal Issue

Dr James Hansen is giving a lecture in Wellington. The details Monday 16 May 2011, 5.45pm -7.30pm, Rutherford House, Lecture Theatre 1, 23 Lambton Quay, Wellington, No RSVP required - all welcome.

Here is Hansen talking recently about phasing out coal powered thermal power stations.



Here is the full detail of Hansen's public talk in Wellington.

Human-Made Climate Change: A Moral, Political and Legal Issue

Dr James Hansen is Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University's Earth Institute. He is the author of Storms of my Grandchildren (2010), and is probably best known for being one of the first scientists to bring global warming to the world's attention, when he delivered Congressional testimony on climate change in the 1980s.

Trained in physics and astronomy in Dr James Van Allen's space science program at the University of Iowa, Dr Hansen has been an active researcher in planetary atmospheres and climate science for nearly 40 years, with the last 30 years focused on climate research, publishing more than 100 scholarly articles on the latter topic.

Elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1995, Dr Hansen has received numerous awards, including the WWF Conservation Medal from the Duke of Edinburgh, the American Geophysical Union?s Roger Revelle Medal, and the Heinz Environment Award.

In addition to numerous testimonies given to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, Dr Hansen twice made presentations to President George W. Bush Administration's cabinet level Climate and Energy Task Force, chaired by Vice President Dick Cheney.

While Dr Hansen's work has evolved from space science to climate science, it has constantly sought to make the results of that work widely available to the public. Time Magazine designated Dr. Hansen as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2006, a tribute to his continuing efforts to serve the public through his scientific work.

Dr Hansen's Wellington lecture will focus on human-made climate change as a moral, political and legal issue. To quote:

'Human-made climate change is a moral issue. It pits the rich and the powerful against the young and the unborn, against the defenseless and against nature. Climate change is a political issue. But politics fails when there is a revolving door between government and the fossil fuel-industrial complex. Climate change is a legal issue. The judiciary provides the possibility of holding our governments accountable for their duty to protect the public interest.'

The Mayor of Wellington, Celia Wade-Brown will be present to welcome and introduce Dr Hansen.