- the questions were only about SRM (not ‘geoengineering’)
- the question actually never asked about ‘research’ and certainly not about experimentation or SPICE (it asked only whether scientists should ‘study’ SRM)
- Some of the strongest opinions expressed by those interviewed were very critical of SRM but these weren’t mentioned in the press release even though there was stronger support for these critical opinions than the ‘headline’.
- The opinions of over 200 people were excluded from the study at the discretion of 2 of the researchers on the basis that those people had read about SRM online.
- When asked, 38% of those who responded to the survey identified the description of SRM given to them as biased in favour of SRM. Only about 2% thought it was biased against.
David Keith opinion survey suggests broad support of geoengineering. Not so!
Tags
A leading Geoengineer has today published a public opinion survey which is being reported as showing broad public support of geoengineering research. Suspicious?
The reality of course is nothing so clear. The paper is authored by geoengineering advocate (and commercial geoengineer) David Keith and 2 other authors – one of whom is Keith’s Doctoral student. While the press release claims as its headline that 72% of those interviewed support geoengineering research and that this has important implications for the SPICE project (trojan hose experiment) – actually:
Here is a report in The Guardian about the survey:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/24/geoengineering-survey-public-support?newsfeed=true
2 Responses to “David Keith opinion survey suggests broad support of geoengineering. Not so!”
Leave a Reply
Allied Organisations
Latest blog posts
Please consider commenting on the CBD papers on Geoengineering: Make your Views Known by February 22
View + Comment at this link: http://www.cbd.int/climate/geoengineering/review/ The Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a moratorium on geoengineering activities in 2010. The Secretariat was instructed to prepare two papers as part of that decision: one on the impacts of geoengineering on biodiversity and the other on regulatory frameworks. Those papers are now available for peer review. [...]
The Politics of Climate Change Dialogue (with Pat Mooney) – Feb. 8
Pat Mooney, author and award-winning director of ETC Group will provide an overview of the politics behind some of the most critical issues facing the planet today: unsustainable agriculture, corporate concentration in the life industries and geoengineering.
I think it’s not good form to use a survey form with a handful of respondents as a reason to do something that will affect millions of people.
Geoengineering a planet to cool it is terrible.
Our ecosystem is so complex and inter-related and has evolved over a long time period. We don’t really know what the long-term consequences will be. It reminds me of the time DDT was sprayed, and this allowed over-growth of other insects that were no longer preyed upon by those killed.
These corporate-funded, biased surveys are as audacious as ever, contrived to hoodwink an increasingly exhausted public, too tired to find the time to inform themselves beyond the lame-stream media.. Please spread the word about the excellent documentary What In The World Are They Spraying – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0khstYDLA – More awareness is the only way this may be stopped.