Month 4, Day 8: James Hansen Is Recognized!

Dr. James Hansen has won The Sophie Prize.

The Sophie Prize is one of the world’s most generous environment and sustainable development Prizes. The Sophie Prize is established to inspire people working towards a sustainable future.

The Sophie Prize is an international award (US $ 100,000), for environment and sustainable development, awarded annually. The Sophie Prize is established to inspire people working towards a sustainable future. The Prize was established in 1997 by the Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder and his wife Siri Dannevig.

I was getting tired of writing doomy gloomy letters, so I sent Dr. Hansen a note of congratulations for a change.

Dr. James E. Hansen

Columbia University
Armstrong Hall
2880 Broadway
New York, NY 10025 USA

April 8, 2010

Dear Dr. Hansen,

Congratulations on receiving the Sophie Prize! I am pleased and happy to see that your work is recognized and valued, and I hope this means that you will have more influence with policy-makers here in the United States and in the world. I’m a music teacher by profession, a private citizen with no climatological expertise, but my parents are scientists, in consequence of which I acquired a modicum of scientific literacy. When I first read reports of your work they immediately rang true.

The Bush Administration’s suppression of your results is shocking and shameful (although it was a foregone conclusion that it would do no good, I wrote them letters at the time protesting this profoundly stupid behavior). The appalling fact is that our national politics has been infected with a virulent and pernicious form of stupidity; George W. Bush and his anti-science cohort were (and are) symptoms of this disease, and because your conclusions failed to fit their predetermined narrative, you had to be censored.

While the Obama administration is obviously an improvement on its predecessor, I am still waiting for signs that our current President can address global climate change with the degree of urgency that is needed.

Congratulations again on your receipt of the Sophie Prize. You are a pivotal figure in this struggle, and I thank you not only for your tireless advocacy, but for being an honest and conscientious scientist. Please keep it up!

Yours Sincerely,

Warren Senders