This article originally provided by americanprogressaction.org

April 7, 2008

Nasa Scientist Warns More Drastic Cuts Are Needed to Protect Climate: 

James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, warned the European Union today that its target of 550 parts per million of CO2 emissions -- "the most stringent in the world -- should be slashed to 350ppm" if "humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed." In a draft paper on the subject, Hansen relies on the earth's history, using samples taken from the bottom of the ocean that "allow CO2 levels to be tracked millions of years ago. They show that when the world began to glaciate at the start of the Ice age about 35 [million] years ago, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere stood at about 450ppm." Hansen warned that allowing the earth to rest at 450ppm "will probably melt all the ice" and create "a disaster -- a guaranteed disaster." Hansen has called for an immediate moratorium on the creation of new coal plants, without which, he states, "we don't have any chance of stopping global climate change." Last fall, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) issued "Global Warming Principles" that call for a 450ppm target.