* Vehicles abandoned by illegal immigrants are expensive to remove and
towing them causes additional damage.

* Trash and human waste left behind by illegal immigrants affects soil
and water quality.

I am all for limiting man’s C02 emissions, and am a big believer and supporter in clean renewable energy sources, but I find it very troubling that a campaign like this actively seeks to stifle the research of potentially the most important scientific work being conducted today.

Nobody – not least the geoscientists themselves – take the risks involved with geoengineering for granted, but given the path we have sadly found ourselves on, I believe it is important that we as a species prepare for a worst case scenario of sudden dramatic climate change.

At this point, our entire understanding of climate change is in its infancy (relative to other fields), so I believe that under proper regulation and co-ordination of the relevant government and scientific bodies, we should endeavour to learn all we can about the realities of climate change, and we should extend this research to cover the most practical and least invasive means with which to artificially alter the climate, should we find ourselves facing sudden and catastrophic climate change. I emphasise the use of this research as a plan ‘B’ and not as an alternative. The worst thing we could do is carry on as we are doing, in the belief that we will eventually just be able to geoengineer ourselves out of the problem. At best, any future geoengineering should be viewed as a means with which to either avert catastrophe, or to buy us time as we ween ourselves off our fossil fuel addiction.

I appreciate the worries and uncertainty surrounding such potentially dangerous research (and under normal circumstances I would be amongst the first to decry any tampering with natures delicate balances), but the only thing which terrifies me more than us forever damaging our planet with geoengineering, is to live through a sudden and severe climate change, and having no defence at all to its effects, because the research which could have bought us the time we needed was squashed before it had a chance to mature into a workable and practical option.

The only knowledge that can hurt you, is the knowledge you don’t have.