State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

James E. Hansen

  • Solar Geoengineering To Cool the Planet: Is It Worth the Risks?

    Solar Geoengineering To Cool the Planet: Is It Worth the Risks?

    Once considered a crazy idea, solar geothermal engineering is gaining acceptance in some circles. But it’s not without drawbacks.

  • World Temperatures Will Blow Past Paris Goals This Decade, Asserts New Study

    World Temperatures Will Blow Past Paris Goals This Decade, Asserts New Study

    James Hansen warned the world in the 1980s that global warming was coming. Now, he is warning that it is barreling down even faster than expected.

  • James Hansen’s Climate Warning, 30 Years Later

    James Hansen’s Climate Warning, 30 Years Later

    Three decades after Hansen first warned Congress about global warming, the overwhelming scientific consensus is that he was right—and most would say that far too little has been done to address the threat.

  • A Dire Warning on Rapid Climate Change

    A Dire Warning on Rapid Climate Change

    Sea level rise from melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland threatens catastrophe for coastal cities within decades unless strong measures are taken to reduce CO2 emissions from the use of fossil fuels, argues climate scientist James Hansen.

  • NASA’s Jim Hansen to Retire

    James E. Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, has announced he will retire as director of GISS this week to devote more time to his campaign to cut global carbon emissions. “Jim Hansen is a one of the true giants of climate…

  • Socially Speaking, the State of the Planet

    Socially Speaking, the State of the Planet

    If you wanted to get a sense of the State of the Planet, you didn’t need to be at the Columbia University conference on Oct. 11. You just needed to follow #SOP2012. Six hundred people gathered at the event to think about the future of sustainable development, while 476 people sent 1,300 tweets, making about…

  • The New Climate Dice: The Odds Have Shifted to Hot

    The New Climate Dice: The Odds Have Shifted to Hot

    This year’s Midwest heat wave and some other recent extreme weather events are no fluke of nature, but a consequence of a warming planet, according to an analysis of climate data by NASA scientists.

  • Carbon Dioxide Already in Danger Zone, Warns Study

    Revised Theory Says Levels in Air Must Decline, Not Just Stabilize

  • Answers About the Earth’s Energy Imbalance by James E. Hansen, Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies

    Below are answers to typical questions about this research topic and its implications provided by James E. Hansen, director, NASA’s Goddard Insittute for Space Studies. Hansen was lead author on a paper published by Science in April 2005 on this topic. What is the direct significance of the energy imbalance found by the authors in…

  • Solar Geoengineering To Cool the Planet: Is It Worth the Risks?

    Solar Geoengineering To Cool the Planet: Is It Worth the Risks?

    Once considered a crazy idea, solar geothermal engineering is gaining acceptance in some circles. But it’s not without drawbacks.

  • World Temperatures Will Blow Past Paris Goals This Decade, Asserts New Study

    World Temperatures Will Blow Past Paris Goals This Decade, Asserts New Study

    James Hansen warned the world in the 1980s that global warming was coming. Now, he is warning that it is barreling down even faster than expected.

  • James Hansen’s Climate Warning, 30 Years Later

    James Hansen’s Climate Warning, 30 Years Later

    Three decades after Hansen first warned Congress about global warming, the overwhelming scientific consensus is that he was right—and most would say that far too little has been done to address the threat.

  • A Dire Warning on Rapid Climate Change

    A Dire Warning on Rapid Climate Change

    Sea level rise from melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland threatens catastrophe for coastal cities within decades unless strong measures are taken to reduce CO2 emissions from the use of fossil fuels, argues climate scientist James Hansen.

  • NASA’s Jim Hansen to Retire

    James E. Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, has announced he will retire as director of GISS this week to devote more time to his campaign to cut global carbon emissions. “Jim Hansen is a one of the true giants of climate…

  • Socially Speaking, the State of the Planet

    Socially Speaking, the State of the Planet

    If you wanted to get a sense of the State of the Planet, you didn’t need to be at the Columbia University conference on Oct. 11. You just needed to follow #SOP2012. Six hundred people gathered at the event to think about the future of sustainable development, while 476 people sent 1,300 tweets, making about…

  • The New Climate Dice: The Odds Have Shifted to Hot

    The New Climate Dice: The Odds Have Shifted to Hot

    This year’s Midwest heat wave and some other recent extreme weather events are no fluke of nature, but a consequence of a warming planet, according to an analysis of climate data by NASA scientists.

  • Carbon Dioxide Already in Danger Zone, Warns Study

    Revised Theory Says Levels in Air Must Decline, Not Just Stabilize

  • Answers About the Earth’s Energy Imbalance by James E. Hansen, Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies

    Below are answers to typical questions about this research topic and its implications provided by James E. Hansen, director, NASA’s Goddard Insittute for Space Studies. Hansen was lead author on a paper published by Science in April 2005 on this topic. What is the direct significance of the energy imbalance found by the authors in…