-- Horatio Algeranon's versification of Climate scientist James Hansen
Global warming isn't a prediction.
It's happening. It's real.
It's what the science tells us,
Not simply what I feel
If Canada mines the tar-sands,
And we do naught about it,
It almost certainly will be
"Game over" for the climate.
The following is from Game Over for the Climate, by James Hansen:
"Canada’s tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen, contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. If we were to fully exploit this new oil source, and continue to burn our conventional oil, gas and coal supplies, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eventually would reach levels higher than in the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago, when sea level was at least 50 feet higher than it is now. That level of heat-trapping gases would assure that the disintegration of the ice sheets would accelerate out of control. Sea levels would rise and destroy coastal cities. Global temperatures would become intolerable. Twenty to 50 percent of the planet’s species would be driven to extinction. Civilization would be at risk."
"If this sounds apocalyptic, it is. This is why we need to reduce emissions dramatically. President Obama has the power not only to deny tar sands oil additional access to Gulf Coast refining, which Canada desires in part for export markets, but also to encourage economic incentives to leave tar sands and other dirty fuels in the ground."
"The science of the situation is clear — it’s time for the politics to follow"
