It’s clear from the tweets on HOME’s homepage that the news is already known: SPICE is out; the ‘Trojan Hose’ won’t spout.

But in case you missed it: On May 15, the Principal Investigator (PI) for the Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering project announced that a planned field trial associated with the project won’t happen. The intention had been to test hardware that could be used to inject aerosols into the stratosphere to block sunlight as a way to artificially cool the planet, a form of “solar radiation management.”

Everyone who voiced opposition to the geoengineering experiment since last September – including those who signed the HOME campaign’s open letter to the funders of SPICE asking for its cancellation – should feel heard. (The open letter, signed by more than 70 organizations from around the world, can be found here.)

SPICE’s PI cited both governance issues and potential conflict-of-interest as the principal reasons for cancelling the field trial – no argument here, though there are plenty more reasons to oppose SPICE. Namely, the entire geoengineering enterprise is dangerous, wrong-headed and counter-productive. What is certain, however, is that the cancellation of SPICE doesn’t signal the end of geoengineering or of field trials to test its feasibility. Other real-world experiments are already in the works. There will be lots of HOMEwork in the near future!