UK Geo-engineers blocking sunlight.

[Simon Fairlie]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "ETC Group" <civicrm at etcgroup.org>
> Date: 1 September 2011 16:00:13 BDT
> To: "chapter7 at tlio.org.uk" <chapter7 at tlio.org.uk>
> Subject: {Disarmed} News Release: ETC Group calls on UK government  
> to halt Geoengineering Experiment
> Reply-To: r.122.91329.16b397c3f7570d69 at etcgroup.org
>
>  ETC Group
>
> News Release
>
> 1 September 2011
>
> MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from ".."  
> claiming to be www.etcgroup.org
>
>
> 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.
>
>
> Scientists at Cambridge University (collaborating with Oxford and  
> the Hadley Centre in a project run by the University of Bristol)  
> have been engineering a hose to the sky that will be held up by a  
> giant balloon. The purpose of the hose is to deliver particles to  
> the stratosphere as a way of blocking sunlight, in order to  
> disguise the effects of global warming. The test, expected to take  
> place in October or November, will use a large helium balloon to  
> loft a kilometer-long prototype hose to the sky and then spray  
> water through the hose (a substitute for the chemicals it is  
> ultimately designed to deliver).  The experiment is part of a £1.6  
> million research project entitled SPICE (Stratospheric Particle  
> Injection for Climate Engineering), funded by the Engineering and  
> Physical Sciences Research Council. The SPICE researchers have not  
> disclosed exactly where or when the controversial experiment will  
> take place.
>
> “Going ahead with this experiment will do real damage to the UK’s –  
> and Europe’s -- credibility in climate negotiations later this year  
> in Durban, as well as next year’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro,”  
> said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group from Ottawa.  “By  
> allowing this experiment to go forward the UK is undermining  
> intergovernmental discussions on geoengineering that it has  
> financially supported and is very actively participating in. This  
> extremely unhelpful provocation will sour UN negotiations. The UK  
> Government must halt this experiment now and clearly state that it  
> will not support any geoengineering experiments while international  
> talks are ongoing.  I will be raising these issues with  
> governments, Parliamentarians and civil society groups next week in  
> Bonn and Brussels in our discussions to prepare for Rio2012.”
>
> There are many reasons why this experiment should not be allowed to  
> proceed:
>
>  There has been no decision to go forward with “solar radiation  
> management” and therefore there is no need to test the hardware  
> designed to implement it.
>  The Convention on Biological Diversity adopted MailScanner has  
> detected a possible fraud attempt from ".." claiming to be a  
> moratorium on geoengineering activities last year in Nagoya, Japan  
> and this experiment goes against the spirit, if not the letter, of  
> that decision.
>  There has been no transparency on the part of the researchers  
> involved as shown by their failure to disclose the location, timing  
> or the basic scientific background on the test.
>  While it may seem innocuous to shoot seawater through a hose, the  
> plan is to be able to deliver an estimated 10 million tonnes of  
> aerosols to the stratosphere – 20 kilometers above Earth.  This  
> experiment is only phase one of a much bigger plan that could have  
> devastating consequences including large changes in weather  
> patterns such as deadly droughts.
> -30-
>
>
> For more background, see:
>
> ETC Group,MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from  
> ".." claiming to be Geopiracy: The Case Against Geoengineering, 2010
>
>
> ETC Group,MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from  
> ".." claiming to be “Top-down Planet Hackers call for Bottom-up  
> Governance”, February 11, 2010
>
> Understanding Risk Research Group, Cardiff University, Public  
> Engagement on Geoengineering Research: Preliminary Report on the  
> SPICE Deliberative Workshops, August 2011.
>
> John Vidal, Giant Pump and Balloon to Pump Water into Sky in  
> Climate Experiment, 31 August 2011.
>
>
> International campaign against geoengineering experiments:   
> www.handsoffmotherearth.org
>
>
> For more information:
>
> Diana Bronson: +1-514-273-6661 or cell: +1 514 629 9236
>
> Jim Thomas: +1 450-224 5702 or cell: +1 514 516 5759
>
> -----
>
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