James Hansen: "Young People's Burden: Averting Climate Disaster"

An Iowa City Darwin Day talk by James Hansen, Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Young people are inheriting a global situation fraught with both opportunity and danger.  Global poverty is on the decline and potentially can be eradicated, but that result requires abundant affordable clean energy.  The quest for that energy raises the threat of runaway climate change, with catastrophic results for humanity and nature.  Our political systems practically ignore both the opportunities and danger, because the changes occur on longer time scales than our present politics can handle.  Young people need to understand the situation and take control of their future.

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