Thirty-five years ago, on 23 June 1988, NASA scientist James Hansen gave testimony before the US Senate in which he warned that the global climate was changing; due to greenhouse gases in its atmosphere, our planet was warming. He predicted that the warming would continue. The New York Times reported that testimony on Page 1, under the headline "Global Warming Has Begun".
Were Hansen's 1988 projections correct? The overwhelming consensus of scientists around the world: "Hansen nailed it."
The data collected over thirty years proved him right:
Hansen also forecasted that the Arctic would warm even faster than the planetary average
What happened since? The Arctic warmed even faster.
Hansen forecasted that the amount of sea ice in the Arctic would decline.
What happened since? The amount of sea ice in the Arctic declined.
So, was this guy some kind of kooky clairvoyant, or was Jim Hansen just a very good scientist?
Jim Hansen, by the way, is now 82 years old.
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