You Won't Believe This Chilling Article About Climate Change Is 30 Years Old

Two weeks ago, I recommended an article about James Hansen and his historic 1988 speech at the US Senate. Hansen, a former NASA scientist, was one of the first to warn politicians about the urgency of the greenhouse effect. After reading about Hansen, I got curious about the reactions that his speech may have provoked. I started digging to see what the media had to say after being confronted with this existential threat.

One of the wonderful relics I found was this article, written by Andrew Revkin for Discover Magazine. I'm linking it here as I found it, directly from Revkin's LinkedIn account, because I find the idea of reading it as it was originally published kind of romantic (special mention to the cigarette ad in the last page). However, if you prefer a digital copy, you can find it here.

The article kicks off with Hansen's warning, along with a very well written explanation (and a great graph) of how the greenhouse effect works. Then it goes on to a series of chillingly accurate predictions, based on Hansen's models, but also on interviews with several scientists from different areas.

Weather patterns could shift, bringing drought to once fertile areas and heavy rains to fragile deserts that cannot handle them. As run­off from melting glaciers in­creases and warming seawa­ter expands, sea level could rise as much as six feet, in­undating low-lying coastal areas and islands. There would be dramatic disrup­tions of agriculture, water re­sources, fisheries, coastal ac­tivity, and energy use.

This is, probably, the best article about climate change I've recommended here on PIQD, and the best I've read in a long, long time. I just can't wrap my head around the idea that it's 30 years old. Like a great song or a great book, it feels like it was written yesterday. 

I strongly recommend canceling any appointments, plans and surgical procedures you have in the next 20 minutes or so and delving into this.