James Hansen has a new presentation available online, which he apparently gave at Illinois Wesleyan University on Feb. 19, 2008. It is titled “The Threat to the Planet”, and it includes the mix of hard science and tough talk we’ve come to expect from him.

Grab your copy here (56 slide, 8.5MB PowerPoint).

Some of the key points that jumped out at me in reading the presentation (slide number in []’s):

• Over half of the global warming is still “in the pipeline” [3]
• Numerous charts showing temperatures, CO2 and CH4 levels, etc. over time
• Estimate of climate forcing (3/4C per W/sq. meter) [11] (In other words, when the amount of heat retained per meter of surface area, which receives roughly 1,000 watts in direct sunlight, increases by one watt that will eventually result in a global warming effect of 3/4 of a degree C.)
• What the Pleistocene climate changes tell us [14], namely that the planet is extremely sensitive to triggers which then put feedback effects into motion.
• Graph of Greenland mass loss due to ice met [27]
• Map showing the 100 largest cities in the world [31], and how many of them are on coastlines
• Graph of Arctic sea ice extent loss [36]
• The atmospheric CO2 levels needed to restore Arctic sea ice and sea levels [37, 38]
• Graph showing the lifetime of CO2 in the atmosphere [41]
• Several slides addressing what to do about it, starting with a complete ban on non-sequestered coal plants

Normally I just toss out a link to a document and add some kind of snarky comment about how you should put your life on hold and go read it right this very minute. This presentation is thorough enough that I wanted to give you a peek at the highlights, as a way of enticing you to take that next step.

So don’t make me look stupid. Put your life on hold and go read it right this very minute.