Ratcliffe coal trial: James Hansen gives court a crash course in climate change | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Nasa's top climate scientist Jim Hansen told a jury at the trial of 20 environmental activists that he had begun speaking out about climate change again in the past five years because of his grandchildren.
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Hansen had flown overnight from his home in the US to give evidence about the science of climate change and in particular the threat posed to humanity by the burning of coal at plants such as E.ON's at Ratcliffe-on-Soar.
...Nottingham is not the first British court where he has given evidence. He testified last year in the case of the "Kingsnorth Six", who had climbed up E.ON's coal plant.
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The day after last Monday's trial, he flew to Switzerland from East Midlands airport to try to dissuade the government there from building a new coal plant. In the past 18 months, he has been arrested twice in the US in protests against coal mining.
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The Guardian interviewed Hansen at his hotel in Nottingham after the case. He was tired after his overnight flight and two-hour testimony and mindful of his 4.45am wake-up call the next morning. But he spoke passionately about his recent trip to Beijing for an energy conference. ...If the US does not start weaning itself off fossil fuels soon, he believes the country is "headed for second- or third-grade status in decades to come".