ETC Group calls for Ban on Geoengineering at Rio+20
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.
SPICE Experiment Updates
UK Secretary of state for Energy and Climate Change responds to groups on SPICE — Says geoengineering “may have a role to play in the future” and says the government is hands off when it comes to deciding what research gets funded!
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
David Keith opinion survey suggests broad support of geoengineering. Not so!
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 Fortune Mag: a peek at the big corporate money behind geoengineering
Climate scientists and their billionaire backers, like Bill Gates, are trying to turn down the global thermostat – and make money doing it.
Bill McKibben calls geoengineering a serious dead-end
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, [...]
Ethicist quit geoengineering panel and other thoughts from Climate Progress
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 [...]
Wrapup of Recent Science Press on Geoengineering
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 [...]
John Vidal speaks truth to power one more time
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.
A quick comment from ETC Group on the BiPartisan Policy Centre report
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 [...]
Geoengineering lobby does does remedial PR and calls AGAIN for more research
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
U. of Bristol response to SPICE Opposition letter
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 [...]
U. of Edinburgh response to SPICE Opposition letter
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 backlash to geoengineering begins
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”.
“Hold Your Hoses!” – Kink in UK’s ‘Trojan Hose’ geoengineering experiment, as European Parliament signals its opposition to planet-tinkering
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 [...]
Stop the Trojan Hose!
We need your help to stop an experiment designed to test the hardware for geoengineering the skies by sending chemicals into the stratosphere! A consortium of universities in the UK are planning to test a kilometer-long hose that will be engineered to inject particles into the stratosphere as a geoengineering technology — in order to reflect [...]
Press Release: No Spice In Our Skies, Say Environmental Justice Groups
Over 50 concerned groups from around the world are calling on people to sign an open letter (attached) asking the UK Government and Research Councils to scrap the controversial SPICE experiment designed to test hardware for deployment of stratospheric aerosol injections as a way to artificially cool the planet. The SPICE project (Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering) involves four universities, three research councils, several government departments along with private company Marshall Aerospace.
Scientists oppose British experiment
Envisioning a worst-case scenario in which climate change spirals out of control, researchers in the United Kingdom are planning to test a hose-and-balloon device that spews particles into the atmosphere in an attempt to bring global temperatures back down.
The method is a geoengineering technique that would mimic the cooling effect of giant volcanic eruptions. When thrown high into the atmosphere by volcanoes, small particles reflect sunlight into space, decreasing the amount of heat energy that arrives on Earth. If humans could place similar particles up high, we could theoretically offset the effects of greenhouse gas warming, researchers reason. [Read: Top 10 Craziest Environmental Ideas]
The upcoming tests, led by engineer Hugh Hunt at the University of Cambridge, would suspend a hose 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) into the atmosphere using a gigantic helium-filled balloon that is similar to a weather balloon. The hose will carry only water for now as researchers grapple with the challenges of keeping the hose aloft and functional. No actual geoengineering will take place.
Pertinent questions from Richard Black of BBC
I’m not too keen on raising the same kind of point in successive articles, but the news that UK scientists are to trial an innovative piece of geo-engineering kit within a couple of months begs some of the same questions that came up in Monday’s piece on carbon capture and storage (CCS). The most basic one is [...]
Oppose British test of geoengineering hardware!
Giant balloon to be launched to test climate fix hope By Leila Battison | BBC Science reporter, Bradford A huge helium-filled balloon attached to a 1km length of hosepipe is to be launched next month to help investigate the feasibility of climate engineering. One method involves pumping particles into the stratosphere, to mimic the short-term [...]
Experiment Updates and Australian Conference
UPDATE: Friends, the experimental hose designed by British scientists (to put sulphates in the stratosphere) that we informed you about last week continues to provoke controversy. Read updates from project-favorable media from Time Magazine, the New Scientist – to a letter from the Royal Society . Also Southern perspectives on geoengineering in a conference late this month.
A helium balloon the size of Wembley Stadium and a 14-mile garden hose: How scientists plan to cool down the planet
It may sound like the crazed plan of a James Bond villain but scientists are working on a way to artificially cool the planet by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth. In a largely theoretical field known as geo-engineering, a team of British academics is about to announce a world-first with plans to field test [...]
TIME Magazine: Why We Need to Test Geoengineering—Soon
The writer and activist Bill McKibben has a saying: “You can’t negotiate with the planet.” What he means is that climate change will continue to unfold based on the amount of carbon we spew into the atmosphere—along with other physical factors—whether we chose to believe in it or not. That’s worth remembering as we enter [...]
Royal Society Letter: I hope we never need geoengineering, but we must research it
A time may come when mankind will need to consider geoengineering the climate to counteract climatic effects of greenhouse gases. If that time comes, we need to have a good understanding of whether such efforts will work and, just as importantly, whether they will have any negative side effects. Those who oppose such exploratory research on the grounds that we do not know what its effects may be (Want to mimic a volcano to combat global warming? Launch a Wembley-size balloon, 1 September) are missing a fundamental point of research, which is to allow us to potentially rule out any technology that would have negative effects that outweigh the positive.
NewScientist: Geoengineering trials get under way
Field trials for experiments to engineer the climate have begun. Next month a team of UK researchers will hoist one end of a 1-kilometre-long hose aloft using a balloon, then attempt to pump water up it and spray it into the atmosphere (see diagram). The water will not affect the climate. Rather, the experiment is [...]
Hose down! ETC Group calls on UK government to halt Geoengineering Experiment
In response to reports that British scientists are about to test the hardware needed to put sulphur particles in the stratosphere as a climate technofix, international technology watchdog ETC Group is calling on the UK government to halt the controversial test and respect UN processes underway to discuss these issues.
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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.