Oil Company CEOs should be put on trial - James Hansen

(Photo of oil company executives testifying before Congress)

Brian Gordon, writing for the Green Party of Canada, believes that the speech given by James Hansen before Congress was long overdue. "Any individual," he says, "who lies and obscures the truth, where those lies and obfuscations lead to a vastly diminished life - or even death - for others is as guilty of murder as someone using a gun, or bomb, or poison.

"The motive is irrelevant. It could be profit, it could be vanity, it could be psychological imbalance. ... Hiding behind a corporation is equally irrelevant. Corporations are simply collections of rules for making money, and those rules are directed by the executives and board members."


On June 23, 2008, James Hansen gave his testimony to Congress, "exactly 20 years after [his] June 23, 1988 testimony, which alerted the public that global warming was underway."

Hansen began by warning of the wide gap that "has developed between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known by policymakers and the public.

"Now, as then, frank assessment of scientific data yields conclusions that are shocking to the body politic. Now, as then, I can assert that these conclusions have a certainty exceeding 99 percent.

"The difference is that now we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed to defuse the global warming time bomb. The next President and Congress must define a course next year in which the United States exerts leadership commensurate with our responsibility for the present dangerous situation.

"Otherwise it will become impractical to constrain atmospheric carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas produced in burning fossil fuels, to a level that prevents the climate system from passing tipping points that lead to disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity's control.

"Changes needed to preserve creation, the planet on which civilization developed, are clear. But the changes have been blocked by special interests, focused on short-term profits, who hold sway in Washington and other capitals."

Hansen then goes on to describe in detail the changes that are already occurring because of global warming and the disastrous changes that will occur in the future if no action is taken now. He refers to various tipping points, one being the melting of Arctic ice which is happening so rapidly that "the Arctic soon will be ice-free in the summer."

In fact, we have discovered that this may happen by the coming fall!

"Debate among scientists," claims Hansen, "is only about how much sea level would rise by a given date. In my opinion, if emissions follow a business-as-usual scenario, sea level rise of at least two meters is likely this century. Hundreds of millions of people would become refugees. No stable shoreline would be reestablished in any time frame that humanity can conceive."

We have already gone too far, perhaps irreversibly so, says Hansen. Our only chance is to halt carbon dioxide growth. "Solution of the climate problem requires that we move to carbon-free energy promptly."

Then Hansen calls a spade a spade. "Special interests have blocked transition to our renewable energy future. Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, as tobacco companies discredited the smoking-cancer link. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming.

"CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of the long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature." (My emphasis)


There it is. But that isn't all of it. What about those politicians who have colluded with the energy companies in their lies and disinformation? What about a White House that has deliberately withheld and/or changed information about global warming so that it more closely coincides with energy company policies and thus promotes, not renewable energy exploration, but business as usual?

Hansen, over the past 20 years has been proven right in his prognostications. As he stated, the debate among scientists is not about whether there will be damage to the planet from global warming caused by greenhouse gases, but it is about dates - when the damage will occur. And from all indications, time is of the essence, as the damage is occurring much more rapidly than any in the scientific community had thought possible.

The urgency of the problem is a major reason why this coming presidential election is so important. McCain is McBush, guaranteed to follow almost all of Bush's failed policies. No one knows exactly where McCain stands on most issues because he can't remember his stance, or changes his stance.

And it's not just the presidential election that is important. This year, every seat is up for grabs in the House of Representatives. New Senators will be elected. We can no longer afford to put doofuses and dumbos in our national legislature. We don't have enough time to correct the bad laws and bad decisions they will make because of a political or religious "principle."

Every candidate, whether for the presidency or the congress, for a governorship or a position in a state legislature, must be pressed on how he or she plans to combat this global disaster that is global warming.

There is no time left.

You can read Hansen's entire speech here.