We have 10 years and I don't think we'll make it. Do you?

I saw a piece on 60 Minutes on Sunday. You can find the transcript here. It was a story about how the BWH is systematically weakening the message from leading scientists and institutions about Global Warming. It was primarily focused around Dr. James Hansen.

It's funny that I saw that piece when I did. About 3 days ago I came across an article about how NASA had just changed it's mission statement in a way that virtually eliminates the mandate NASA and Dr. Hansen have to study Global Warming.

This isn't shocking at all to me. It's pretty much in line with all the other things the BWH has done to further their causes over the greater good of our country and it's inhabitants.

One thing Dr. Hansen said in the piece (and presumably to anyone else he could talk to) is this:

"We have to, in the next 10 years, get off this exponential curve and begin to decrease the rate of growth of CO2 emissions," Hansen explains. "And then flatten it out. And before we get to the middle of the century, we've got to be on a declining curve.

"If that doesn't happen in 10 years, then I donÂ’t think we can keep global warming under one degree Celsius and that means weÂ’re going to, that thereÂ’s a great danger of passing some of these tipping points. If the ice sheets begin to disintegrate, what can you do about it? You can'’t tie a rope around the ice sheet. You can'’t build a wall around the ice sheets. It will be a situation that is out of our control."

I have to honestly tell you that I firmly believe that we will not achieve the goal that Dr. Hansen has laid out here (and also mentioned in "An Inconvenient Truth"). I completely believe that we will not as a nation, as a species, act fast enough to turn the tide on Global Warming. When people ask me why I don't want to have kids, this general belief that the world is pretty much fucked beyond hope is one of my main reasons.

I ask you this. What reason would all the scientists in the world have to create this issue and promote the message that we are almost to the point of no return? What reason could the Bush White House have to dilute that message?