Sherwood Idso & Craig Idso - A critique of the 26 April 2007 testimony of James E. Hansen made to the Select Committee of Energy Independence and Global Warming of the United States House of Representatives entitled “Dangerous Human-Made Interference with Climate”

James Hansen - "By failing to take action against global warming, the federal government has violated its legal obligation to protect the atmosphere as a resource that belongs to everyone."

"Five of the plaintiffs are teenagers, who have a "profound interest in ensuring our climate remains stable enough to ensure their right to a livable future." Does the "right" of these few teenagers in the First World take preference over the "rights" of billions of children, teenagers and parents in the Second and Third Worlds to plentiful energy from fossil fuels? These teenagers, their parents and grandparents have benefited tremendously from their ample use of fossil fuels for the last century and more. Is the science "settled" and the scientific community certain that continued use of fossil fuels is going to bring life on Earth to its knees? Should nuclear energy be supported by insisting that billions of people forego the use of fossil fuels and resort to cooking and heating fires from brush, twigs and dried dung?

James Hansen - We conclude that Earth in the warmest interglacial periods was less than 1°C warmer than in the Holocene and that goals of limiting human-made warming to 2°C and CO2 to 450 ppm are prescriptions for disaster.

Rapid reduction of fossil fuel emissions is required for humanity to succeed in preserving a planet resembling the one on which civilization developed.