i'm greg dalton. in 1988, nasa scientist james hansen told a congressional hearing that it was 99% certain that burning fossil fuels was heating the earth's atmosphere. the next day, a new york times headline proclaimed, quote, global warming has begun, expert tells senate. a quarter century later, dr. hansen and other scientists are still striving to convince much of the united states that basic scientific observation -- seas are rising, glaciers are disappearing, floods are increasing. humans are the cause. about half of americans now accept that fact, 40% do not, according to gallup. over the next hour, we will discuss climate science communication, public policy and opinion, with james hansen and our live audience here at the commonwealth club of california in san francisco. today, dr. hansen is receiving the 2012 stephen schneider award for outstanding climate science communication bestowed by climate one. stephen schneider was a pioneering scientist at stanford who was involved in the formation

i'm greg dalton. how would you grade president obama in addressing climate change?>> he missed a great opportunity to be a great president. you know, when he was elected and had 70% popularity four years ago, he could have gone to the public. and like franklin roosevelt explained, that for the sake of our national defense, for the sake of the economy, for the sake of climate, we should deal with this problem in an honest way, putting a price on carbon. you know, when i was in united kingdom with anniek after -- she had a mild heart attack there, so i was stuck there for a week. this is right after he was elected before he took office. so we wrote a letter to him and explained this to him. i tried to get john holdren to deliver it to him, but he wasn't sworn in yet so he couldn't do it. >> the president's science adviser. >> yeah. but that -- it's a shame because he said he understood the problem. he said we have a planet in peril. but in a way, i don't think he was getting very good advice. i think that people were telling him well we need more solar panels and we n

real honor and a privilege to, on behalf of the jury, on behalf of bud ward, larry goulder and greg dalton, present you with the 2012 steve schneider climate science communication award. as you know, steve had the metaphor about cloudy crystal ball -- [laughter] -- hold this up -- getting across the idea thsat we can't precisely see the details of what's in the pipeline as you put it, the shape of things to come for the climate system, but we know enough. we can see clearly enough. thank you for everything that you've done. it's a real privilege to call you a friend and a colleague. [applause] >> and we've been talking -- today, we've been talking about courageous communication and climate communication. a lot of politicians have walked away from this issue with a few exceptions; governor huntsman is one, governor jerry brown of california. it is another -- and i'd like to invite governor jerry brown to come up here and say a few words. [applause] >> thank you, no it's all right. i just wanted to say congratulations. you went out in the forefront, doing great science with good public polic