Amongst geoengineering methods, ‘afforestation’, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and biochar are commonly promoted as ‘safe’, benign’ or ‘soft’ options – unlike, say, shooting sulphur particles into the stratosphere.
Arctic Methane Emergency Group (AMEG) warns of catastrophic release of methane from permafrost, peat and the thawing Arctic leading to unstoppable runaway warming. Scary, but does it warrant deployment of highly risky geoengineering technologies that are likely to only make matters worse?
The press release had a pretty stark headline: “Haida Announce Termination of Russ George.” If the name sounds familiar its because he is the Californian businessman who last year led the world’s largest, and unapproved, geoengineering (climate manipulation) scheme to dump over 100 tonnes of iron into the Pacific ocean west of Haida Gwaii in British Columbia…
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.”
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. [...]
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.
Announcing an Online Discussion Forum for Indigenous and Local Communities on the possible impacts of geo-engineering techniques on biodiversity and associated social, economic and cultural considerations
Bill Gates is one very confused billionaire philanthropist. He understands global warming is a big problem [...] But he just doesn’t want to do very much now to stop it from happening…
From the UN Rio+20 preparatory meetings in New York, ETC Group today launches Who Will Control the Green Economy? The 60-page report connects the dots between the climate and oil crises, new technologies and corporate power. The report warns that the world’s largest companies are riding the coattails of the “Green Economy” while gearing up [...]
Suspicious of the UN, resistant to regulation and leading inquiries – how has this group become the ‘go-to scientists’?
The contradictory and ambivalent recommendations of the report of the Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative (SRMGI), published last week, reflect the emerging faultlines in the global debate overgeoengineering.
(ETC Group received mentioned in the follow article by Arthur Max) Brighten clouds with sea water? Spray aerosols high in the stratosphere? Paint roofs white and plant light-colored crops? How about positioning “sun shades” over the Earth?
At a time of deep concern over global warming, a group of scientists, philosophers and legal scholars examined whether human intervention could artificially cool the Earth—and what would happen if it did.
The so-called Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative has just released its report. (find it here) See Guardian reporter Hanna Gersmann‘s story about it here Also, check out ETC Group’s take on the report, below: This report is the product of a negotiation between people who held different views — and that accounts for some of the [...]
As part of the decision of Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP 10, the Secretariat was instructed to prepare a paper on the impacts of geoengineering on biodiversity. A first draft of that paper has now been prepared. The deadline for comment in this initial peer review is December 9(there will be a second round in [...]
View ETC Group’s submission for the Zero Draft of RIO+20. Section 2 specifically details perspectives on geoengineering and the rationalization behind a ban.
Chris Huhne: “We do not accept that the conduct of publicly-funded geoengineering research gives rise to a conflict of interests; neither does it determine the UK’s position in either the CBD or the UNFCC [...] Attached PDF! – click here to read full letter
‘Earth Grab – Geopiracy, the New Biomassters and Capturing Climate Genes’ – essential, cutting-edge climate science in everyday language – is published this week (27 October 2011). The authors reveal information that the large corporations who profit from climate change do not want the public to know.
Remember white roofs? They were supposed to be a cheap, easy way to cool down the planet. If the cities of the world simply slathered their roofs with lighter shades of white and gray, the theory went, then they’d trap less heat and reflect more sunlight back into space. This scheme couldn’t halt global warming, because it’d [...]
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. [...]
From CleanTechnica.com: Can Geoengineering Combat Climate Change? OCTOBER 18, 2011 BY SILVIO MARCACCI Solar radiation management technologies could cool Earth’s climate Editor’s Note: I’m totally in the same boat as Pat Mooney on this topic. We have the solutions we need today to solve global warming (without geoengineering). While some geoengineering solutions (i.e. painting roofs white) are great, I wouldn’t trust [...]
Climate scientists and their billionaire backers, like Bill Gates, are trying to turn down the global thermostat – and make money doing it.
Bill McKibben on tar sands, Obama, geoengineering and population growth The US environmentalist explains why he is now in a ‘fight’ with the oil industry over climate change Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben at his house in Ripton, Vermont. Photograph: Corey Hendrickson/Polaris/For The Guardian Bill McKibben, one of the US’s leading environmental writers and campaigners, [...]
Exclusive: Dysfunctional, Lop-Sided Geoengineering Panel Tries to Launch Greenwashing Euphemism, “Climate Remediation” By Joe Romm on Oct 6, 2011 at 3:48 pm | [ original article ] Revealing Interview with Ethicist Who Withdrew from Panel, Equally Revealing Article by Panel Member on Report’s Dysfunctional Process Earlier this week a panel of experts released a report calling for more research [...]
Here’s a quick wrapup of what Science Journals are saying about geoengineering: from NATURE.com Panel recommends US geoengineering research program - October 04, 2011 [original article] The White House should coordinate a multi-agency research program to investigate the feasibility of using “climate remediation” – more commonly referred to as “geoengineering” – to stave off the worst consequences [...]
Just days after the British got cold feet, the Washington-based thinktank the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) published a major report calling for the United States and other likeminded countries to move towards large-scale climate change experimentation.
ETC Group is dismayed — but not at all surprised, given the composition of the panel — by the Task Force’s embrace of more research and especially of large-scale testing of geoengineering technologies (p. 29). This report is out of step with international opinion on climate engineering technologies, as expressed last year by 193 nations of the [...]
Rebranding geoengineering as ‘climate remediation’ – video at the following link from the Bipartisan Policy Center: http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/news/multimedia/2011/09/29/geoengineering-climate-remediation
Thank you for your recent email with regard to the Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering (SPICE). It is important to note that, as the announcement made at the Bradford Science Festival underlines, the intention is to investigate the feasibility of this technique. This is very much a first step in providing an insight [...]
Dear Ms Paul, Thank you for your email of 26 September, on behalf of a number of signatories, which arrived during a particularly busy few days for all the senior team at the University of Edinburgh. I am responding on behalf of the Principal. As your letter notes, the SPICE project is primarily a test [...]
Political opposition to technologies that could artificially cool the planet is in full swing. A field test of geoengineering, planned for October in Sculthorpe, UK, has been postponed for six months. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has passed a resolution that “expresses its opposition to proposals for large scale geoengineering”.
Opponents of proposals to “geoengineer” the planet have two reasons to celebrate this week. Firstly, ETC Group has learned that UK scientists, in the midst of controversy, are on the cusp of postponing an imminent test of an experimental hose [...]
Amongst geoengineering methods, ‘afforestation’, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and biochar are commonly promoted as ‘safe’, benign’ or ‘soft’ options – unlike, say, shooting sulphur particles into the stratosphere.
Arctic Methane Emergency Group (AMEG) warns of catastrophic release of methane from permafrost, peat and the thawing Arctic leading to unstoppable runaway warming. Scary, but does it warrant deployment of highly risky geoengineering technologies that are likely to only make matters worse?
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