Climate Scientist James Hansen Honored for Speaking Truth to Power

The award was established in 1980 and is approved by the AAAS Board of Directors.The award, which carries a $5,000 prize, was presented Saturday, at the 2008 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston.

The AAAS award citation credits Hansen for "his outspoken advocacy on behalf of scientists' responsibilities to communicate openly and honestly with the public on matters of importance to their health and welfare."

In a memo supporting Hansen's selection, the award committee wrote that he "has faced pressure, and sometimes outright opposition, from highly placed individuals in the past four administrations" who have urged him to alter his message in one direction or another.

The memo adds, "in consistently fighting to keep his scientific opinions free from political influence and revision, Dr. Hansen has drawn attention to the broader issue of political interference in scientific communication, a process that he warns is 'in direct opposition to the most fundamental precepts of science.'"

Dr. James Hansen (Photo courtesy GISS)

Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, is a pioneer in the use of computer models that have helped document human influence on the global climate due to the emission of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

There has been one degree Fahrenheit of global warming over the past 30 years, Hansen says, and another degree of warming is projected due to greenhouse gases already released into the atmosphere.

There remains a large gap in what is known by scientists about global warming, he maintains, and what the public and policy makers need to know about it.

On the day Dr. Hansen accepted his AAAS award, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies issued a report showing that 2007 tied with 1998 for Earth's second warmest year in a century.

"As we predicted last year, 2007 was warmer than 2006, continuing the strong warming trend of the past 30 years that has been confidently attributed to the effect of increasing human-made greenhouse gases," Hansen said.

The greatest warming in 2007 occurred in the Arctic, and neighboring high latitude regions.

Global warming has a larger affect in polar areas, as the loss of snow and ice leads to more open water, which absorbs more sunlight and warmth. Snow and ice reflect sunlight; when they disappear, so too does their ability to deflect warming rays.

The large Arctic warm anomaly of 2007 is consistent with observations of record low geographic extent of Arctic sea ice in September 2007, according to the study's authors.

This year will not be a record warm year, Hansen predicted.

"It is unlikely that 2008 will be a year with truly exceptional global mean temperature," said Hansen. "Barring a large volcanic eruption, a record global temperature clearly exceeding that of 2005 can be expected within the next few years, at the time of the next El Nino, because of the background warming trend attributable to continuing increases of greenhouse gases."

The eight warmest years in the global meteorological record have all occurred since 1998, and the 14 warmest years in the record have all occurred since 1990.

One of the fundamental precepts of democracy, Hansen says, is that the public should be honestly informed about research findings and their implications for public policy.

In a talk last year at the National Press Club, Hansen said, "I don't think the framers of the Constitution expected that when a government employee -- a technical government employee - reports to Congress, his testimony would have to be approved and edited by the White House first." That has been the case under both Republican and Democratic administrations, he said, although "the problems are worse now than I've seen in my 30 years in government."

In January 2006, Hansen told the "New York Times" that the Bush administration had tried to silence him after he called for prompt reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases during a talk at a scientific meeting.

He released data showing that 2005 was probably the warmest year in at least a century but said he was warned there would be "dire consequences" if such statements continued.

The Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award is presented annually by AAAS to honor individual scientists and engineers or organizations for exemplary actions that help foster scientific freedom and responsibility.

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