Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Less Coal and Less Meat - Dr. James Hansen


Top climatologist Dr. James Hansen calls for less coal and less meat to stop global warming. - 17 Dec 2008


At a recent interfaith climate summit in Uppsala, Sweden, Dr. James Hansen called for the phasing out of fossil fuels through strong government actions. He explained what the goals would be for world leaders during an interview with Supreme Master Television.

Dr. James Hansen – Top world climatologist, Director, US Goddard Spaceflight Center, NASA (M): We have to actually reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere; it's already increased to about 385 parts per million. If we want to stop the warming and stop the melting of more ice, we are going to have to reduce the CO2 at least back to 350 ppm, and perhaps even somewhat lower. That's a tall order; it requires phasing out the coal emissions but it also means that we are going to need to improve our agricultural and forestry practices.

VOICE: Like many scientists have affirmed, eliminating carbon-based fuels will have far-reaching benefits on the economy, as well as the health of the planet and its inhabitants. While continuing to call for bold government policies to make this happen,

Dr. Hansen also shared what ordinary citizens could do to help.

Dr. Hansen (M): There are many things that people can do to reduce their carbon emissions, but changing your light bulb and many of the things are much less effective than changing your diet, because if you eat further down on the food chain rather than animals, which have produced many greenhouse gases, and used much energy in the process of growing that meat, you can actually make a bigger contribution in that way than just about anything. So, that, in terms of individual action, is perhaps the best thing you can do.

VOICE: We join you, Dr. Hansen, in your call to leaders and citizens to preserve our Earthly home, and thank you for continuing to be a voice for courageous and constructive actions, including the shift toward the plant-based diet. May the environment be restored for all the future generations to come.

Dr. Hansen (M): Greetings to Supreme Master TV. My message to you is: Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet. "

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's pray that more people will take heed of his advice and warning !

Anonymous said...

Vignes Balasingam said...

Nice posting. I've always maintained that a low-meat or no-meat diet is the way to go if we want to make sure our existence on this planet is secure.

A more controversial but equally poignant point is on childbearing. If you sat down and calculated the amount of resources one human being needs from the time of conception till death, you will realise that careful population management is necessary. People should stop having babies just because they feel like. More thought should go into the long term implications of their actions.

The world can support 6 times more people than the 6 billion we have today. However with the current economic system that stifles food and growth to secure the needs of the wealthy we can only sustain approximately 3.5 billion. Something has to give. And if we are not careful about it, it will be our own existence.