WASHINGTON (AP) — The president’s new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth’s air.
John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month that the idea of geoengineering the climate is being discussed. One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort.
“It’s got to be looked at,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of taking any approach off the table.”
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But Holdren noted that shooting particles into the air — making an artificial volcano as one Nobel laureate has suggested — could have grave side effects and would not completely solve all the problems from soaring greenhouse gas emissions. So such actions could not be taken lightly, he said.
Still, “we might get desperate enough to want to use it,” he added.
After Holdren’s comments hit the net, he was quick to clarify, “Relax, dudes, it was just, like, an idea, okay?“ Nearly a year ago, the CFR brought in CMU’s Jay Apt and M. Granger Morgan for a Workshop on Unilateral Planetary Scale Geoengineering to discuss such ideas; last month, Granger also contributed to this Foreign Affairs article, which concludes, “It is time to take geoengineering out of the closet-to better control the risk of unilateral action and also to know the costs and consequences of its use so that the nations of the world can collectively decide whether to raise the shield if they think the planet needs it.”
If this tech is just “on the table” being debated by think tankers, that’s one thing; but if, rather, it’s in the sky being sprayed by tankers, I’d say that’s a whole different bucket of spiders. As for the nations of the world collectively deciding stuff, this tends to happen clandestinely. Maybe what Morgan is getting at is some kind of digital open global referendum…
_ Geoengineer my ass (the planet needs it)!
Then Al Gore or whoever can declare that more people picked “Geoengineer my ass”, so “the shield” shall be raised by popular mandate… even though it appears it already has been.
“It’s a nuisance to you and I to determine what’s real and what’s not.”
Innit, though?
Thanks We Are Change Pittsburgh and Your Inner Vagabond for the free public screening of Aerosol Crimes yesterday. The next movie night is May 27, so check their calendar in few weeks to find out what’s playing.
CHEMICAL CHORDS
There’s still no official video for Beck’s track “Chemtrails“, but there is one by Luca Maximilian for Iris Aneas‘ “Chemtrails en el Aire” which I really like.
Here’s a provisional translation of Aneas’ lyrics:
So much time believing that what we see
is composed of water and steam,
but perhaps it is not true
and there is something hidden,
some lines that could be deadly
in the sky/heaven and diagonally,
a network that expands through the air
and kills the sun in the end.
Today I am sad because
there are chemtrails in the air
and I think on my balcony,
Where is the blue sky?
Is it not depraved what is made
before us in broad daylight?
It isn’t all the same to me
to watch it in my city.
Look and verify it,
look and verify it,
some lines that could be deadly
in the sky/heaven and diagonally.
Above they say
they are testing the aerosol
but it kills the sun in the end.
I believed it was a simple plane
like a naïve fish in the sea
that found a shark
and the naïve one has been me.
Today I am sad because
there are chemtrails in the air
and nobody knows it
and I cry from my balcony,
Where is the blue sky?
Something like that.
The Calderón quip at the end of the video (A quién le daña el saber, homicida es de si mismo.) translates to something like, “One who harms knowledge is the same as a murderer.”
Cheers, Iris!
¡Cuídate!